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 was found unresponsive at about 9:40 p.m. Monday on the sidewalk on the 700 block of East 50th Street in Bronzeville.
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. Authorities did not confirm that.
Police spokesman John Mirabelli said the motive in German's shooting death was not known, but that German was affiliated with a street gang. 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. (He was) just kicking it with friends."
No arrests had been made as of late Tuesday afternoon.
German'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.
At least six other people were injured by gunfire in the city on Monday, police said.
Four men, ages 19, 30, 32 and 34, were shot about 4:15 p.m. in the 5700 block of South Lowe Avenue, police said.
The wounded were taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County and Mount Sinai Hospital, all in "stable" condition, Fire Media Affairs Director Larry Langford said. None of the injuries are believed to be life-threatening, police said.
About 8 p.m., two men were shot near South Peoria and West 79th streets, police said. A 20-year-old man was shot in the abdomen area and a 23-year-old man was shot in the leg.
