Boy, 14, shot early Thursday is 7th child shot in Chicago in less than 17 hours

A 14-year-old boy was in fair condition after he was shot three times during a drive-by shooting early Thursday, the seventh child to have been shot in the city in less than 24 hours — including a 15-year-old boy who was killed and a 6-year-old boy who was in critical condition — according to Chicago police.

Authorities were called to the 8200 block of South Yates Boulevard in the South Chicago neighborhood around 6:45 a.m. after getting reports a teenager had been walking in the area when a gunman in a green SUV, possibly a Jaguar, opened fire, striking the child in the upper abdomen, hip and shoulder, according to an online media notification from Chicago police. The green SUV continued traveling north after the shooting and no arrests had been made as of noon Thursday.

The child was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center in a private vehicle and “dropped off,” according to police. He had been listed in fair condition, authorities said.

The daylight attack was the most recent in a troubling spate of shootings resulting in death and serious injuries to children, all in less than 17 hours.

Benjamin Ortega, a 15-year-old boy from the 2400 block of South Trumbull Avenue in Little Village, was fatally shot just outside his home around 9 p.m. Wednesday, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office, which said Ortega was pronounced dead at 10:03 p.m. at Mount Sinai Hospital.

Ortega had been shot in the abdomen and he was taken to the hospital in a private vehicle, police said, but they did not provide information regarding where he was or what he was doing when he was shot. Police additionally did not provide details about the person who shot the teen, saying only no arrests had been made and it was being treated as a homicide investigation.

About 2.5 hours earlier, four teenage boys were shot while standing on the front porch of a boarded-up home, 7321 S. Union Ave., in the South Side Englewood neighborhood, police said. Three of the boys were 15 and one was a 16-year-old.

A 15-year-old was shot in the right leg, another 15-year-old was shot in the right arm and the third 15-year-old suffered a graze wound to his abdomen. The three boys were taken in good condition to hospitals, authorities said.

The 16-year-old suffered a gunshot wound in his right leg during the 6:40 p.m. shooting, and he was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in fair condition, police said.

At the scene shortly after 8 p.m., red and yellow tape surrounded about six houses in the middle of the block on Union Avenue between 73rd and 74th streets, while a handful of police cars lined up north of the red tape along Union Avenue. Officers did not provide additional information about the shooting or the motive, saying only no arrests had been made.

Earlier Wednesday, a 6-year-old boy was shot in the back inside a West Woodlawn apartment, leaving him critically injured, authorities said.

Police were called about 2:20 p.m. to an apartment in the 6100 block of South Vernon Avenue on the city’s South Side for a report of the shooting, according to Chicago police. After the shooting, a relative flagged down a driver and the child was taken privately to Comer Children’s Hospital, where he was undergoing surgery, according to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.

He last was listed in critical condition and no updates were available Thursday.

Chicago Tribune reporters Stephanie Casanova and Rosemary Sobol contributed.

kdouglas@chicagotribune.com

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