3 Teens Charged In School Picnic Drive-By Shooting

CHICAGO, IL — Three teenagers face felony charges in connection with a drive-by shooting Friday at a Far South Side elementary school's end-of-the-year picnic that wounded two girls, Chicago police said. Two juvenile boys and an 18-year-old man were apprehended shortly after the attack, and officers recovered a stolen vehicle during the arrest, according to a police statement released Saturday.

The shooting happened just before 2 p.m. Friday, June 16, at Joseph Warren Elementary School, near South Jeffery Avenue and East 92nd Street, in the Pill Hill neighborhood. At the time, students and school staff were outside attending a picnic to celebrate the end of classes for the year. According to police, two students — ages 7 and 13 — were hit by shots fired from a vehicle that allegedly was chasing several former students who had been kicked off campus by school security (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news for the South Side and Chicago — or other neighborhoods. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)

Raekwon Hudson, 18, a 17-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy each were charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of felony aggravated battery discharge of a firearm and a single count of misdemeanor criminal trespass to vehicles, police said. They were arrested at around 1:50 p.m. Friday in the 8900 block of South Phillips Avenue, but police did not specify their roles in the shooting.

Chicago police Supterintendent Eddie Johnson said at a press conference Friday that several former students — the intended targets in the shooting, not the girls — tried to enter the school, but security officers who knew them kicked them off campus. The ex-students then went to hang out at a nearby corner at 92nd and South Chapel Avenue when a black vehicle drove up to them and opened fire, Johnson said.

RELATED: 2 Girls, 7 and 13, Shot In School Picnic Drive-By Shooting

The former students tried to escape the gunfire by running toward the school picnic, according to the superintendent. That's when the shots hit two students on the playground at the event, wounding one in the thigh, the other in the hand, police said. The victims were taken to Comer's Children Hospital in stable condition, and their injuries weren't considered life-threatening.

During Friday's press conference at the scene of the shooting, Johnson attributed the speedy arrest of the three suspects — they had been taken into custody at the time, but charges hadn't been filed — to cooperating witnesses and officers already in the area.

Raekwon Hudson, 18 (Photo via the Chicago Police Department)

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