'My heart is broken': High schooler killed, 3 others injured in Washington Park shooting

Tyshon Johnson gunned down before completing senior year at Englewood STEM High School

ByTre Ward and ABC7 Chicago Digital Team WLS logo
Monday, August 14, 2023
'My heart is broken': 4 shot, high schooler killed on South Side
A Chicago shooting in Washington Park left a Tyshon Johnson dead and three other people injured in the 5700 block of South Payne Drive.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- An 18-year-old man was gunned down just steps away from the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Tyshon Johnson was shot and killed in a shooting that left three others wounded.

Police said it started with a fight between a group of women. Johnson's mother, Yolanda, said he was trying to break it up when shots were fired.

"I want to hug my baby," Yolanda said. "I want to hold my baby right now. I want to squeeze my baby. I want to touch him."

Her son's promise to finish his senior year at Englewood STEM High School will never be fulfilled.

"He was going to go back to school on point," Yolanda said. "Because he had lost his girlfriend in March, so he was going back to do it for her and me."

Tyshon was one of four people who, police said, were shot at 57th and Payne in Washington Park on Sunday night.

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"My heart is broken, I mean, torn! My baby is gone!" Yolanda said.

Investigators said it started as a fight between a group of women, and a male offender pulled out a gun and started firing.

"I just know it was supposed to been a group of kids fighting. They were supposed to be fighting. My son was supposed to have been in a car. They said he got out the car. I guess, he was trying to break up the fight and, I guess, the boy just started shooting," Yolanda said.

Tyshon and the other three victims, a 16-year-old boy, another 18-year-old man and a 53-year-old man, were able to make it to the University of Chicago Medical Center, right across the street, where he died overnight.

The oldest victim remains in critical condition.

"My son did not do nothing to you. Just please turn yourself in. He did not deserve this," Yolanda said.

Tyshon's sudden murder came few months after his family says his girlfriend, 18-year-old Deshawnay Yoakum, was shot and killed inside of a relative's Bronzeville apartment in March.

Two young lives, with the promise of their futures, are now taken away.

"I'm hurt! It's something I can never get back. My first born," Yolanda said.

Police said the shooter was able to run away. As of now, no one has been arrested.

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