Boy, 15, fatally shot near Obama’s Chicago home
Apr 23, 2013, 9:10 PM
CHICAGO (AP) – A 15-year-old boy was shot and killed in a backyard about four blocks from President Barack Obama’s Chicago home, police said Tuesday.
Cornelius German of Chicago was found unresponsive around 9:40 p.m. Monday. He had been shot in the back and was pronounced dead at the scene on the city’s South Side, police told The Associated Press.
No arrests had been made as of late Tuesday afternoon, they said.
The teen’s death comes about three months after the fatal shooting of another 15-year-old, Hadiya Pendleton, who was gunned down in a park about a mile from the Obama home in the Kenwood neighborhood of Chicago. Police have said the alleged gunman opened fire after mistaking someone in the group of young people that the girl was with for a member of a rival street gang. Two men face first-degree murder and other charges in the Jan. 29 shooting.
Police spokesman John Mirabelli said the motive in the latest shooting death was not known, but that German was affiliated with a street gang.
German’s mother said he was supposed to be waiting for her to pick him up Monday night on a nearby street corner but was not there when she arrived. Then, after she saw several police cars race by, she started to worry that it had something to do with her son.
“I had this sinking gut feeling something wasn’t right,” Timika Rutledge, 42, told the Chicago Sun-Times. “I saw a police officer. He said a little kid got shot. Somehow, I knew it was my baby. I went back there. I saw my baby on the ground in the grass. I saw his gym shoes and his jacket.”
The mother was told by friends that her son was leaving a dice game when he was shot, though he was not the intended target. Police did not confirm that.
Family members deny that German was affiliated with any gang, but said he had older friends who were likely involved with gangs.
“It’s just sad another 15-year-old boy is dead, my nephew,” Kameisha Andrews told the Sun-Times. “It didn’t even happen far from his home. He was doing what teenagers do. Just kicking it with friends.”
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