Boy, 12, and girl, 15 wounded at large group gathering: police

Boy, 12, and girl, 15 wounded at large group gathering: police

A teenage girl and preteen boy were hospitalized Friday night after each were shot in a large gathering in the Douglas neighborhood on the South Side, authorities said.

Police said a boy, 12, was part of a crowd on the 500 block of East 31st Street around 9:20 p.m. when someone fired from a moving silver car and wounded him in the leg. The girl, 15, was sitting in a car when she was shot in the back, police said. Both were in good condition at University of Chicago Medicine.

Officers dispersed a large crowd of about 150 young people from a parking lot near South Martin Luther King Drive and 32nd Street around 9:30 p.m. At least seven cars in the vicinity of the lot had windows or windshields smashed.

Police detained at least two people in the process of breaking up the gathering but said there was no one in custody in connection with the shootings.

After clearing the parking lot, officers slowly pushed the group northward on South King Drive in squad cars and on foot, where people dispersed after about an hour.

Area One detectives were investigating the shootings, officials said.