The 32-year-old woman was shot in the chest Thursday near 93rd Street and Ridgeland around 3 p.m. as a gunman sprayed bullets for several blocks. No one else was injured.
The woman had just picked up her 7-year-old from school at nearby Amelia Earhart Elementary. She was holding her 2-year-old as they walked home.
"I know I counted, I thought I heard at least eight, but they counted 40 casings, so it had to be more, clearly," Erica Edwards, victim's friend, said. Edwards helped the wounded woman.
"When I opened the door I said, 'Carmen, what's going on?' She said, 'Erica, I've been shot.' Blood is coming out of her chest and everything. She just walked up to me. Naturally, I opened the door, she just sat there. I got police back on the phone and let them know they need to bring an ambulance because my neighbor had been shot."
The victim was rushed to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. The bullet went through her chest, and she was treated and released Friday morning. She is expected to make a full recovery.
Police say the shooting started as a fight in an alley.
"And they just came across the street, just shooting like the wild, wild west," Randi Gannt, grandmother, said.
Officials at Amelia Earhart Elementary School called an emergency meeting with parents.
"My mom told me, she said just to be safe, and whenever I hear a bullet somewhere, if I have somewhere to go, just run inside, if I have a door and it's a big place. If I have nowhere to go, just lay flat on the ground," Kenneth Robinson, student, said.
"You think he's protected, all of the kids and parents and security at the school. But then, they're not really protected like you think they are," De'Andrea Robinson, parent, said.
Two bullets came through Al Hogan's front window and hit the wall where he was working; he'd just walked away moments before.
"I just went to the bathroom. I was sitting right here. If I was here, just inches," he said.
His sister came by to check on him, she knows things could have been worse.
"So close to being his head, he is there working every day, I'm going, this is just not right," said Kayla Hogan.
She said she is trying to be proactive and hopes reaching out to local politicians can bring change.
"We've gone in the alderman's office this morning, contacted our congressman, the commander of our district - we need help for this issue, the gang violence," she said.
Officials are still searching for the gunman
