Chicago family mourning teen killed in Whiting, Indiana shooting while visiting relatives
Neighbors rushed out to try to help boy, but said they were too late
WHITING, Ind. (WLS) -- A Chicago family is mourning the loss of a teen killed while visiting family in northwest Indiana.
Relatives said the teen was gunned down in front of family members over the weekend.
The shooting happened Saturday on LaPorte Avenue near Ohio Avenue in Whiting, Indiana.
Neighbors on Monday talked about the desperate effort to save the boy's life.
The shooting happened just steps away from the home of the victim's relatives, who said he was walking to the park with his cousins and friends when he was shot and killed.
"By the time the paramedics showed up, he had stopped gasping. I'd never watched a child die before," said Chrissy Serrato, a neighbor who tried to save the boy's life.
It was the gunfire that brought lingering fear to the northwest Indiana community.
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"I heard three pops: 'boom, boom, boom,'" neighbor Ron Yzaguirre said. "I knew something was wrong. People were screaming and crying."
"Poor baby, his shoes were still sitting here. His cell phone's on the floor," neighbor Denise Lopez said.
Neighbors, like Serrato, came rushing from their homes.
"I was afraid to touch him, and the kids were trying to pull him up. They were saying, 'Come on,'" Serrato said. "I just can't imagine what those children were going through. That was just - it was traumatic for me!"
Lopez said a bullet hit her home.
"Our neighbor - a bullet, I guess, was lodged in her TV," she said.
Relatives of the victim, on Monday, went combing through the block for possible surveillance video of the crime.
The woman who tried to save the boy's life embraced his family near the exact spot.
"I don't even know those boys. I just wanted to hug them," Serrato said. "It was a very loving embrace. It felt good. It can't fix this, though. I felt terrible that I couldn't do anything."
So far, there is no word on any suspects or arrests.
