CHICAGO--The blasts, heard blocks away, interrupted a warm summer evening that had drawn children out onto their neighborhood blocks Wednesday.
In the 11500 block of South Perry Avenue in West Pullman, neighbors said they watched in horror as a gunman pumped bullet after bullet into a 13-year-old boy who was already down on the street.
And this morning, a stricken mother made frantic calls to loved ones, asking them to come be with her as she tried to adjust to her new world.
"I'm not going to see my baby no more," Theresa Lumpkin cried. "How soon can you get here? Try to get into Chicago."
Lumpkin's son, Robert Freeman Jr., was shot and killed Wednesday in what family and neighbors say was likely a case of mistaken identity. No one was in custody as of late Thursday afternoon.
Police sources said it appeared the boy was mistakenly targeted.
Although initial reports indicated that Robert, who was most recently enrolled at Oglesby Elementary School, was riding his bike Wednesday, Lumpkin said her son was standing with friends near a car when he was shot by an assailant who ran out from a gangway.
Lumpkin was already surrounded by family and friends Thursday as she remembered her son. He loved basketball and had cut his forehead just weeks ago when the backyard rim came down on him during a dunk. He liked to tinker with machines.
He spent part of the summer cutting lawns with a mower his father gave him, spending earned cash on treats like Flamin' Hot Cheetos. He was new on the block, but he had made friends and rode his bicycle constantly.
But Lumpkin kept returning to the last image she had of her son -- dying in the middle of the street.
"My baby was just lying there,'' she said, crying. "He tried to get up. He tried to fight for his mama. He tried to fight for his life.''
Neighbors, who did not want their names published, heard the shots and came to the front of their house and saw the gunman standing over Robert, shooting repeatedly.
"I was running out [of] the door to say, 'Stop shooting that baby,'" one neighbor said. The resident said he was incensed to see the young teen targeted.
"That boy's young,'' he said. "That's a baby.''
Lumpkin said doctors told her that Robert's body had 22 bullet holes. While it was not clear exactly how many times Robert was shot, the approximate number of bullet holes he suffered was confirmed by police sources.
Neighbors said Robert had a similar haircut, complexion and height as another boy in the neighborhood who they think was the target.
Police are also investigating a theory that the shooter targeted the wrong teen and that the motive for the shooting was a dispute over drugs or money, several sources said.
Robert was the fourth teen shot in the area in a week. In neighboring Roseland, a 15-year-old was shot Tuesday, a 17-year-old was shot Monday and a 14-year-old was shot Sunday. None of the injuries was life-threatening.
This latest round of gunfire sent one mother from two blocks away racing to Perry Avenue to find her own teen son.
After the resident, who did not want to be named, found her son, she took him straight home, where she tried to reassure him.
"I told him it was going to be OK," the mother said. "He said, 'You told me that before.'"
Posted By: Siebra Muhammad
Friday, July 30th 2010 at 9:56AM
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