13 People, Including 3-Year-Old, Shot in Chicago

Eleven people, including a 3-year-old child, were shot at a basketball court in Chicago on Sept. 19, 2013, according to fire officials.

 

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At least 13 people, including a 3-year-old boy, were shot at a basketball court on Chicago's South Side Thursday night, authorities said. 

A total of 10 ambulances responded to the scene near Cornell Square Park around 10:15 p.m. local time and transported the 12 victims to various hospitals, fire officials said. Another victim who was shot walked into a local hospital with injuries. 

The boy is listed in critical condition at Mt. Sinai Hospital with a gunshot wound to the ear that exited through his mouth, police spokesman Ron Gaines told ABC News. Four others are in serious condition and the rest are in stable or good condition. 

The 3-year-old boy has been identified as Deonta Howard, according to ABC News station WLS-TV. Deonta's family told WLS that he is in surgery and expected to live. 

Ages of the victims range from 3 to 41 years old and include two teenagers, according to Gains. Three of the victims are females. 

The motive for the shooting is believed to be gang-related, Gaines said. No information was given about potential suspects but police are investigating. 

The shooting comes nearly three weeks after Chicago saw an outburst of violence over the Labor Day weekend that ended with eight dead and 20 others injured. The city's Police Department has responded to shootings that have grabbed national headlines by stepping up its crime-fighting efforts, paying overtime to add patrols to some hard-hit neighborhoods, including the Back of the Yards, where Thursday's shooting took place. 

In a February visit to his hometown, President Obama addressed the rising violence. Obama said absent fathers and broken marriages are one of the contributing factors in cases of youth poverty, violence and crime. He said one of the solutions is strengthening parental role models. 

"There's no more important ingredient for success, nothing that would be more important for us reducing violence than strong, stable families, which means we should do more to promote marriage and encourage fatherhood," Obama said. 

South Side teenager Hadiya Pendleton has become a symbol for the tragic loss due to gun violence in the city. Pendleton, 15, was gunned down days after performing at Obama's inauguration earlier this year.

First lady Michelle Obama attended Pendleton's funeral. 

Police say Pendleton was killed in a shooting blocks from her school on the city's South Side, and about a mile from the Obamas' own neighborhood.