Two Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students were shot and killed in the Loop Friday afternoon, according to video and reports.
The victims, 17-year-old Robert Boston and 16-year-old Monterio Williams, were shot shortly around 12:25 p.m. near Washington Street and Wabash Avenue, just blocks from Millennium Park, police said. They were students at Innovations High School, a charter school at 17 N. State St.
Police said a dark-colored sedan and an SUV pulled up to a crowd, and masked gunmen got out and opened fire. Four of the attackers fled in a vehicle and two other people took off on foot, a source said.
The two who ran off went into a nearby Popeye’s and changed clothes in the bathroom, the source said.
At a news conference near the scene, Deputy Police Chief Jon Hein said the attackers confronted six students who were leaving Innovations. The victims were rushed to Northwestern Memorial Hospital and pronounced dead, said Hein, who was flanked by police officials and Chicago Public Schools Chief Safety and Security Officer Jadine Chou.
Hein, from the department’s Central Control Group, described the shooting as a “senseless act of violence” and said there’s no immediate public safety risk, though he noted the jacket of a woman who was walking in the area was grazed by a bullet. He said no one was in custody, though a source said one person had been detained by police.
“At this time we believe it to be an isolated incident,” Hein said. “Whenever a tragedy like this strikes in the city, it’s heartbreaking for the families and everybody affected by it. It’s a tragedy no matter where it happens.”