Boy, 14, wounded in shooting while collecting signatures outside polling place in Brighton Park
CHICAGO (CBS) -- While thousands turned out to the polls to vote in Tuesday's general election, a 14-year-old boy was shot outside a polling place in Brighton Park.
Police said, shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday, the boy was standing on the sidewalk in the 4400 block of South Archer Avenue, when someone shot him in the left leg. The boy was taken to the hospital in good condition.
We spoke with multiple witnesses – none of whom wanted to speak with us on camera because they fear retaliation. We have no idea who shot the boy or why, but we do know the shooter was caught on surveillance video.
Sources said at the time of the shooting, the boy was undertaking a day of duty on Election Day. Too young to vote himself, he was collecting signatures with his school in an effort to register others to vote.
There are surveillance cameras everywhere around the scene.
Video from across the street showed the boy standing behind a white car just before the shooting. The second the car leaves, the boy can be seen on the ground.
It's not clear if the car is connected to the shooting.
Witnesses told CBS 2's Sabrina Franza his friends ran to help him after he'd been shot in the leg. They picked him up before placing him back down on the sidewalk a few storefronts away.
Witnesses called 911.
The boy sat there, crowded by witnesses in the middle of rush hour traffic, as he waited for an ambulance to arrive. Paramedics showed up a few minutes later to take him to the hospital, and police also rushed to the scene.
As of Wednesday evening, a bullet hole remained at the salon next door to the polling place.
The boy remained at Stroger Hospital of Cook County late Wednesday. He has a long road to recovery ahead, but is expected to survive.
No one was in custody Wednesday afternoon.
