Teen shot near Red Line hours after Chicago police detail plans to combat CTA crime

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Hours after Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said he plans to move officers from desk duty and other non-patrol units to the CTA, there was another violent incident that left a teenager shot.

Crime tape surrounded the 79th Street Red Line station for the second time in three days Monday after, police say, a 17-year-old boy was critically hurt during a gun battle right outside the station.

The shooting comes as more cops are being added to the transit system after the fatal weekend shooting of 29-year-old Diunte Moon.

Moon was a security guard at Millennium Park who was getting his bachelor's degree in criminal justice as he supported his nearly 8-year-old daughter. All of that ended early Saturday morning. As he on his way home from work, he was shot and killed inside a Red Line train near 79th Street.

"Diunte was a fighter. He knew what he wanted. He was in his last year in college," said his mother, Kina Moon. "I have four boys and now I have to set up and raise his girl. Be there like he was. He was an awesome dad."

Moon's family tell us they believe the 29-year-old fell asleep while riding the train home, and had to turn around when he got all the way to 95th Street.

Police have released a surveillance photo of these two men who they believe may have been involved in what happened during what appears to have been an attempted robbery gone wrong.

"Seeing those two guys who gunned down my nephew, it was hard. Very disturbing. And for his mom to see it," said James Moon, the victim's uncle.

"After my nephew got killed at the same place on 79th Street, another young boy gets shot! When is it going to stop?"

To beef up staffing, the CTA is bringing back K-9 security teams that were removed in 2019, and CPD is reassigning officers from desk duty and specialized units.

"We're going to have to pivot more and more resources from administrative jobs to assignments like the CTA," Brown said Monday.

According to CPD, there have been 562 violent crimes committed on the CTA as of today, compared to 438 at this same time last year - an increase of 28%.

And while Moon's killing prompted CPD to increase the number of police officers deployed on the system and CTA to announce the imminent return of K-9 units, transportation experts say that visibility in the right places and at the right times is key if they are to act as a real deterrent.

"It's remarkable what K-9 units can do," said Prof. Joe Schweiterman, a transportation expert at DePaul University. "One, they bring a visible sense of security to people. Secondly we know a lot of crime on CTA is related to drugs."

CTA officials said they will have additional details on how the K-9 units will work in the next week or so.