2 killed, 2 wounded in shooting near Chicago high school; no arrests made

A shooting near a high school on Chicago’s Lower West Side left two people dead and two others injured Friday afternoon, police said. 

In a news conference, Chicago police Superintendent David Brown said that a suspect has not yet been identified for the shooting outside Benito Juarez High School in the Pilsen neighborhood. However, Brown disclosed that investigators believe the shooting was “a potential gang conflict.” He said an “aggressive” investigation is underway. 

The two injured victims were in serious condition, Brown said. He declined to provide any further information about the victims, including age or gender, or whether they were students at the school. However, a Chicago Fire Department spokesperson told CBS Chicago that all four victims were teenagers. 

A volunteer crossing guard told CBS Chicago that students had just been dismissed when he heard six to eight gunshots at around 2:30 p.m. local time. The crossing guard said that the school’s principal yelled for students to go back inside. 

The high school was placed on lockdown for about an hour, with students sent home at around 3:30 p.m.

“Any crime anywhere in the city is obviously a concern to us, but especially, when they’re near or around schools. Many of our officers are parents, are uncles, are aunts, of young people,” Brown said. “We are always as police officers extremely concerned of the impact that violence might have on school-aged students.” 

Brown said that the investigation will involve speaking to survivors of the shooting, along with examining surveillance footage which may have captured the shooting. Pedro Martinez, CEO of Chicago Public Schools, said in the news conference that the school is cooperating fully with the investigation, and providing support to students. 

“All of us are trying to find answers,” Martinez said. “I’m very concerned that this happened on our grounds.”