Grandmother, grandson injured in Gresham drive-by shooting

CHICAGO (WLS) -- An 81-year-old Chicago grandmother is out of the hospital Saturday night after being wounded in a drive-by shooting.

Iola Burress and her grandson, Sylvester Burress, 34, had just attended a wake for Burress' daughter.

Doctors determined that Burress did not need surgery and released her from the hospital. She is back home and expected to make a full recovery, as is her grandson, who was also injured in the shooting.

Sylvester Burress greeted relatives at a reception after a family funeral Saturday night, one day after being shot in the lower back as he and other family members gathered on the porch of the family home in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood.

The shooting happened right after the wake for Iola Burress' daughter, Laverne. Iola was hit four times by the gunshots, yet somehow survived without serious injury.

"(Friday) felt like a movie," said Ronnie Mosley, Burress's great grandson. "To be putting my grandmother to rest, for my great grandmother to be hit four times and for my cousin to be hit, that doesn't seem like reality."

Iola Burress was unable to attend the funeral for her daughter, but relatives said they are grateful she is expected to recover.

Investigators continue to search for suspects after witnesses said a gunman fired several shots in the direction of the porch from the sunroof of a four-door sedan that drove slowly down the street. Police recovered numerous shell casings.

"We have full faith they will get to the bottom of this," said Mosley. "I'm very optimistic in terms of finding out who did this."

The family is a longtime fixture on the block and in the community. Mosley volunteered for Mayor Rahm Emanuel's reelection campaign and is well aware of the issues city leaders are dealing with when it comes to violence. Now it has hit home.

"They're seniors and elders and this is the bookends of our communities," he said. "If this doesn't call us to action, I'm afraid that there's not much else that will," he said.

No one is custody Saturday night.