15-year-old boy shot, killed in Englewood: Police questioning 2 persons of Interest
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Police on Wednesday were questioning two people in a shooting that left a 15-year-old boy dead in Englewood the night before.
CBS 2's Sabrina Franza met Wednesday with the family of the boy, Zumareyan Bledsoe. He had just moved to Chicago three years ago from Mississippi.
"He was just telling me - I want $50 for Christmas," said Zumareyan's sister, Kenyatti Johnson.
But now, Johnson won't get Christmas with her little brother.
"I wish he would have been here so I that could have given it to him," Johnson said, "but the way things happen – we've just got to keep praying for strength."
At 9:02 p.m. Tuesday, Zumareyan was sitting on the porch of a friend's house in the 700 block of West 60th Street when two men with handguns approached, police said. Both of the men began firing at the teen and then ran off.
Zumareyan tried to flee after being struck in the abdomen by gunfire, police said.
Help arrived shortly afterward. Zumareyan was rushed to the University of Chicago's Comer Children's Hospital in critical condition. He was later pronounced dead.
"Who deserves this?" another family member said.
Family members got together at Zumareyan's house, trying to make sense of it all. Was the shooting random?
"Well, it has to be random - because he wasn't an outside person like that," Johnson said. "He was the type like he, just really started hanging out with friends from school. He was the type - he sat in the house all summer and played his game."
The high school student loved to fish. His family said he was just starting to make friends when the unthinkable happened.
"It's happening a lot," the other family member said, "and when it hits your front door, its different."
In 2022, 64 children lost their lives to gun violence in Chicago, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.
That number is higher than 2021, 2020, or 2019, and the figures are steadily increasing. Every time, the grief is just as strong.
"One day at a time," Johnson said.
Again, police late Wednesday had two people of interest in custody. There was no word on any charges.