15-year-old teen fatally shot, man wounded in reported Albany Park shooting
by Nadig Newspapers staff
A 15-year-old teenager was fatally shot and a 27-year-old bystander was wounded at about 6:25 p.m. Tuesday, May 16, in the 3500 block of West Leland Avenue, according to 17th (Albany Park) District police.
Officers responded to a call of a person shot and discovered a 15-year-old teenager on the sidewalk with medical personnel rendering first aid, according to police. The teen was transported to Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston where he was pronounced deceased at about 7:15 p.m., police said.
The teenager was identified by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office as Zion Brown, age 15, of the 4700 block of North Central Park Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide.
The 27-year-old man was transported in stable condition to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center and treated for a gunshot wound to his left buttocks, according to police.
Officers recovered several spent shell casings and two smashed bullets from the street, according to police. An unoccupied Honda had a bullet hole in the windshield, police said.
Department sources said that a police observation device camera allegedly captured footage of the incident showing the 15-year-old firing a handgun towards a group of males standing at the end of the street and that the men fled.
The footage reportedly showed one of the males in the group then returned fire and shot the 15-year-old. Camera footage reportedly showed that the teenager fell to the ground and allegedly fired the handgun again, which hit the 27-year-old bystander in the left buttock, according to sources.
It’s unclear if the incident was gang-related.
Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez (33rd) has been promoting a GoFundMe page on her official Twitter account raising money for funeral expenses for the slain teen. She reportedly donated $50, according to the fund-raiser’s page.
“We have identified the family of the 15-year-old victim and we are coordinating support efforts for them alongside community members and organizations,” Rodriguez said in a letter to the community. “Incidents like this cause fear and concern within our community. We share these concerns and we continue to advocate for the resources our young people need to have the lives they deserve.”
The GoFundMe page said the following:
“My name is Rachel and on May 16th at 6:30 p.m., my little baby brother Zion was shot and killed on the 3500 block of West Leland. He was only 15 and had so much to experience and learn,” the posting said.
“He didn’t make the best decisions but he deserved to have the space and time to learn from them, he didn’t deserve to die because of them. If you knew him in real life you’d know he was just a big goofball who loved hard.
“Even though I am the bigger sister, he was the protector. Please help me give this beautiful and complex soul a proper send off. We never had anything nice and fancy to give him, so please offer anything you can to help us give him that. Thank you for listening to my words.”
The page can be viewed at https://www.gofundme.com/f/zions-final-send-off. The page has raised more than $10,000.
