16-year-old Chicago boy shot dead while playing basketball
FOX 32 / SUN-TIMES - A 16-year-old boy was shot to death Wednesday afternoon in the Jeffery Manor neighborhood on the Far South Side.
Kejuan Thomas was playing basketball at 4:34 p.m. in the 9700 block of South Yates when a car with two male suspects inside pulled up, according to Chicago Police. One of them jumped out of the car and fired shots.
"When I got home, kids come running crying to me, one of our ballplayers got killed!" said neighborhood coach Tony Gibson. "From my understanding, when I came home, they told me, coach Gibson, he was on the court just trying to play basketball. To get ready for high school. That's all the kid was trying to do. Kids not a gang banger. Mother and father raised him as Christian. Took him to church and everything. And look what happened."
The boy suffered multiple gunshot wounds to his head, and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
"This is dangerous around here. You can't allow your kids to go the park. They do different programs in the park but you can't do it because there are other people who don't allow you to have fun," said a nearby resident.
As of 5:36 p.m., CTA No. 100 buses were being temporarily rerouted in both directions from 100th, Van Vlissingen and 95th due to police activity, according to the CTA.