Boy, 12, injured in Near West Side shooting speaks out

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A 12-year-old boy is speaking out after he was injured in a shooting on Chicago's Near West Side. Surveillance cameras captured him running from the gunfire and into a restaurant looking for help.

Police are hoping that security video from surveillance cameras will help lead to the gunmen responsible for the attack that left Willie Burgess wounded. The boy's family said investigators have told them it appears to be a case of mistaken identity.

A still-traumatized Willie was comforted by his mother as he recovers from being shot. Two gunmen opened fire on the 12-year-old and his friends as they bought food inside a Near West Side restaurant.

"My heart actually stopped. It was like, it was indescribable when you get a phone call about your 12-year-old being shot," his mother, Tabitha Lindsey, said.

The 6th grader, one of his relatives and other kids were buying food and candy at the Golden Fish and Chicken at the corner of Jackson and Western just before 7 p.m. Wednesday.

"I feel bad because if I wouldn't have walked to the store, I wouldn't have been grazed in the leg," Burgess said.

The incident was captured by the restaurant's security cameras, in which Willie can be seen wearing the yellow shirt. A screenshot of the surveillance video shows that just as the group got ready to leave, an SUV pulled up outside the restaurant. That's when a witness who doesn't want to be identified said two men leaned out of the red vehicle and started shooting.

"All bullets just came right through. The kid was right here," the witness said.

The Good Samaritan got the boy and the others to safety further inside the store as the shooters drove off.

"I thought he was dead the way he was balled up," the witness said.

Willie was taken to the hospital with a gunshot wound to his left leg. Only the bullet-riddled building remains as evidence of the attack, which police continue to investigate.

Meanwhile, the mother of five blames neighborhood gangs for the violence as her middle child now struggles to feel safe.

Willie's mother sid she plans to have her family spend the summer somewhere else and plans to move from the neighborhood as soon as possible. She said Willie is healing nicely and probably will head back to school next week.

So far, no arrests have been made.