Student injured in shooting minutes before classes start at South Side high school: Chicago police​on March 5, 2025 at 6:13 am

CHICAGO (WLS) — A 15-year-old student was shot outside a Chicago charter high school on the South Side Tuesday morning, Chicago police said.

The shooting took place at about 7:41 a.m. in the 8500-block of South Lafayette Avenue outside a Perspectives charter school in Chatham.

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Police said the girl was walking, when an unknown black sedan approached and two male suspects got out and opened fire.

The girl was shot in the left thigh, and taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in fair condition.

Police said the suspects got back in the sedan and drove south.

Pamela Bosley, who said the victim is her cousin, said the girl who was shot was just trying to go to school.

“She go to this school. She’s an A student. She loved coming to school. She got out the car to come to the school, and everybody was walking at the same time. She got caught in crossfire,” Bosley said. “It’s so frustrating because she should be able to come to school. This is safe ground. This should be a safe ground. She should be able to walk here. She shouldn’t be in the hospital suffering now. My family is suffering today because my cousin was shot.”

Bosley said she doesn’t hold the school responsible at all in this shooting, instead pointing the finger at the community

This all happened right as students were getting dropped off at school. The first bell is at 8 a.m.

“My brother was dropping me off at school, and we saw a girl on the floor and a lot of police and people surrounding her and making sure she was OK,” student Toriyonna Hollingsworth said.

Many parents circled back to pick up their children, or decided not to drop them off.

“I might just take him home because it’s kind of serious,” parent Latrice said. “If they came here this early to shoot, how are we not going to know whether they are not going to come back after school or during lunch hours? That’s kind of dangerous.”

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Parents and students were sorting through the chaos Tuesday morning.

“I got to their classroom with them, and I said, ‘What do you guys want to do?’ and I know they were looking for an after-school program, but that’s not going to happen today. So, we are going to go home,” parent Demetris Hardy said. “Parents don’t have a lot of clarity on what exactly took place.”

School officials said classes would go on Tuesday, and it was up to the parents if they wanted to pick up their children early.

While parents work to protect their kids, the students themselves were still tasked with course work Tuesday in the face of violence against one of their peers.

“The level of trauma that is spread by an event like this, simply because kids are doing something, and parents are doing something that they do every day, that they have to do. And now there will always be the thought; there will always be the fear of what happened today,” Pastor Donovan Price said.

A spokesperson for the school released a statement saying, “This morning, a Perspectives student was shot outside of our school. Our thoughts are with the students, their families, and all those impacted by this tragic incident. Out of an abundance of caution, the school was placed on a soft lockdown, and the Chicago Police Department responded immediately.

“This remains an active investigation, and we are fully cooperating with law enforcement. We are also working closely with the Chicago Public Schools Office of Safety and Security to ensure safe passage home for all students.

“The safety and well-being of our students and staff is our top priority. Counseling and support services are available for those in need.”

No one is in custody, and Area Two detectives are investigating.

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