A 15-year-old boy was fatally shot by a Chicago police officer in the South Side's Englewood neighborhood Sunday night, authorities said.
The shooting happened shortly about 10:50 p.m. in the 6600 block of South Sangamon Street.
Pat Camden, a union spokesman for the Fraternal Order of Police, said officers assigned to a gang crimes unit heard gunfire in the area and spotted three people running as the officers responded.
Police pursued one of the runners, leaving their car and chasing him on foot down Sangamon Avenue, according to a preliminary statement from the Chicago Police Department's Office of News Affairs. During the foot chase the runner turned towards the officers and pointed a gun at them, drawing fire from an officer, according to the statement.
The boy was struck and was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. He was pronounced dead at 11:35 p.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.
Relatives identified him as Michael Westley.
Stunned family members rushed to the hospital after the shooting, said Niyah Lewis, who said she was Westley's cousin.
Lewis, 32, said the shooting happened shortly after the boy had been throwing a football in front of a Fathers' Day gathering at his grandmother's home.
Relatives were frustrated at the amount of information police were sharing with them, Lewis said.
"We know absolutely nothing," Lewis said.
Westley was a high school freshman, said Irea Martin, 32, who said she was his aunt.
"We're not talking about a 17-year-old," Martin said. "We're talking about a kid."
While Lewis and Martin said witnesses had told relatives they had not seen Westley holding a gun, Camden said the boy had been carrying a .40 caliber handgun and had a revolver tucked into his waistband.
Police fired two rounds and did not sustain any injuries, Camden said.
It was not immediately clear if police took any other suspects into custody.
Police were reviewing tape from a blue-light camera located at the corner of Sangamon and West 66th Street to see if it captured the shooting.
Copyright 2013 - Chicago Tribune
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
