9 shot in Lawndale: ‘This is just the city we live in'

CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) - While his friend was bleeding from a gunshot wound in his passenger seat, Quentin Robeson said he went 60 mph down Douglas Boulevard and didn’t stop at any red lights as he sped to Mount Sinai Hospital early Sunday.

“All I could think was, ‘hurry,’” said 34-year-old Robeson.

His friend was one of nine people shot about 3:15 a.m. near Christiana and Douglas, according to Chicago Police. They were gathered in the 3300 block of West Douglas when a black vehicle approached and people inside fired shots.

A 35-year-old man was shot in the leg, a 17-year-old boy was shot in the hand, a 29-year-old man was shot in the hip, a 23-year-old man was shot in the back, a 17-year-old boy was shot in the buttocks, a 30-year-old man was shot in the lower leg, a 22-year-old man was shot in the ankle and a 33-year-old woman was shot in the leg, police said. All eight victims were taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where their conditions were stabilized.

A ninth victim, a 26-year-old man, was shot in the leg and taken to Rush Oak Park Hospital, where his condition was stabilized.

A police source said several of the victims are documented gang members and the shooting appears to be gang-related.

At least 30 shell casings could be seen in the street and on the sidewalk at the intersection in the Lawndale neighborhood on the Southwest Side.

The mass shooting happened while between 30 and 50 people were gathered on the block, listening to music and drinking, according to Robeson, who lives in Calumet City and has two daughters, ages 3 and 5.

He was standing just outside his 2007 Chrysler 300 talking to his cousin, 23-year-old Vic Tetter, when dozens of shots rang out, he said. Both men “hit the ground.”

That’s when his friend, who was sitting in the front passenger seat of his car, yelled, ‘I’m hit!’ He said his 23-year-old friend was struck in the left side of his abdomen. Robeson then jumped in the driver’s seat and sped away.

Tetter also jumped in the vehicle, ripping off his white t-shirt and applying pressure to their friend’s wound.

“I just tried to keep him calm,” said Tetter, who has a 4-month-old daughter and lives in Lansing.

Tetter added that Robeson got to Sinai in less than 3 minutes. The pair stood outside the hospital early Sunday, adding that their friend was in surgery. Robeson’s car, one of four vehicles that sped to the hospital after the shooting, could be seen with a bullet hole in the back window. Crime scene tape roped off the four cars just outside the hospital’s emergency entrance.

Robeson and Tetter had driven from the suburbs into the city to get food from Hody’s Grill near Cicero and Roosevelt, where Robeson’s father works. They stopped by the gathering on Douglas for “only 10 minutes” to see another one of Robeson’s cousins, who was not injured in the shooting.

“We were just having a nice time,” said Robeson, who suffered a laceration to his face but was not hospitalized. “I guess we were in the wrong place to be having a nice time.”

The 23-year-old victim’s brother, who asked not to be identified, was sitting in the back seat of Robeson’s vehicle when the shots rang out. He ducked and was not injured, although a bullet flew “right past” his head.

“This is just the city we live in — the world we live in,” said the brother, who stood outside the hospital with Robeson and Tetter, among more than a dozen other people.

At the crime scene, a 33-year-old woman sat on the curb just outside the police tape, holding her head in her hands. She was sitting inside her white 2014 Nissan Altima listening to music when the gunfire erupted. She was not struck, but her car was riddled with bullet holes and at least one window shattered.

She said her friend, who was standing in the street at the time, was shot and taken from the scene via ambulance.

“I just want to go see my friend, but I can’t get my car,” said the woman, who asked not to be named. She didn’t want to leave her vehicle with no window at the corner of Douglas and Christiana.

“This is f–cking sickening,” she said. “You can’t even enjoy yourself in this city anymore.”