Video captures West Englewood drive-by shooting that injured 2, including woman inside home

Michelle Gallardo Image
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
2 wounded in West Englewood drive-by shooting captured by doorbell camera
A search is underway for the gunman in a drive-by shooting that ended with a man and woman wounded.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Two people were wounded, including a woman hit in the head by a stray bullet, remain hospitalized Wednesday after a drive-by shooting in broad daylight in the West Englewood neighborhood.

Police said a white sedan traveling in the 7300-block of South Wolcott Avenue shortly before 1 p.m. Tuesday with two people inside opened fire at the street. The shooting was captured by a neighbor's doorbell camera.

A 35-year-old woman inside a home was wounded in the head after bullets came through her front window. She was transported to Christ Hospital in critical condition.

A 21-year-old man standing on the sidewalk was shot in the stomach and transported to Christ Hospital in stable condition.

"I ran to the door, and I seen people just scrambling, and I seen people laying on the ground, ducking, diving, trying to hide from the shots," said Wanda Washington, who lives on the block.

Washington's son and husband just barely escaped the bullets. In the Ring doorbell video, her son can be seen diving behind a parked car to escape the gunfire.

"I was in tears," she said. "I got on my knees and I just started praying. I was like 'Oh God. Are you OK? Are you OK?'"

Antoinette Burt was at work when her fiancé called. Her son 21-year-old Tony Hobbs had just been shot.

"I had just talked to him and he said he was going to get a blueberry iced-tea," Burt said. "Minding his business. You all shot somebody you don't even know. Just random. Random. Random. You almost took my baby's life...He had a collapsed lung. They ripped through his spleen. His diaphragm and his colon, they could have killed him."

Burt said her family has lived on the block for less than a year. Her son recently enrolled at Kennedy-King College where he hopes to obtain a degree in construction management.

"I don't want to be around here now. I don't," Burt said. "Why can't you sit on your porch? Why can't you sit in your living room? Like this doesn't make sense.

Neighbors described the shooting as random and police have discovered no motive as of yet in their investigation.

"Someone just rolled down the block, hanging out the window, just shooting at anybody he saw," said John Edwards, who lives on the block. "He shot at my brother, my nephew, just shooting at random people that's outside.

"Could've been my daughter," said Washington. "I have a daughter. It could have been anybody's, you know... it's just sad. This has to stop."

Neighbor Antonio Gilmore works as a paramedic in the suburbs, and applied pressure to the wounded man's back and stomach wounds.

"Tried to keep his pulse down, his respiration down, trying to keep him from panicking and losing more blood," Gilmore said.

Police said the shooters drove away from the scene in a white sedan of unknown make and model. No one is currently in custody. An investigation by Area South detectives is ongoing.