Woman Wounded in Home Invasion

A woman was seriously wounded when three men broke into her home on the Southwest Side, among at least nine people shot over 10 hours in Chicago, according to police.

The woman, 26, was in her garden apartment in the 5900 block of South Kenneth Avenue in the West Lawn neighborhood at 4 p.m. Thursday when the men forced their way into the home, said Officer Thomas Sweeney, a police spokesman, citing preliminary information.

The woman was shot in the chest and was taken in serious condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Sweeney said. The men fled.

According to police, one of the men was wearing a blue U.S. Postal Service uniform. A postal service police officer at the scene would not comment.

A 16-year-old boy, who lives on the next block, said he was walking home from Curie High School and saw a sedan parked at West 60th Street and South Kenneth Avenue.  He saw men get out of the car and open the front door.

“I thought they were friends of the people who lived there,” the boy said.

The boy went inside for about five minutes and went back outside, and he saw police vehicles arrive at the house.  “I’m kind of surprised,” he said. “My mind is blown.”

Police reported no one in custody, and no descriptions of the attackers were released.

Other shootings:

• A 27-year-old man was wounded about 2 a.m. Friday in the Kilbourn Park neighborhood on the Northwest Side.

The man was walking out of his home in the 4300 block of West Belmont Avenue when he was shot, according to Officer Ron Gaines, a police spokesman.  The man suffered a graze wounded to his arm and drove to Community First Medical Center, where he was treated and released, Gaines said.

• Another man was wounded three blocks away about nine hours earlier.  The 24-year-old man was shot at 5:45 p.m. Thursday in the 4600 block of West Belmont, police said.  He suffered a graze wound to his buttocks and refused medical attention, police said.

• About 12:30 a.m. Friday, a 25-year-old man walked into Mount Sinai Hospital after getting shot in the West Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side, Gaines said.

The man was walking in the 4300 block of West Washington Boulevard when he was grazed in the head. He was listed in good condition, Gaines said.

• About 12:20 a.m., a man in his 20s was critically wounded in the East Chatham neighborhood on the South Side, Gaines said.

Police responded to calls about gunfire in the 8200 block of South Maryland Avenue and found the man on the sidewalk with a gunshot wound to his head, Gaines said. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in critical condition, he said.

Police cordoned off a small stretch of Maryland south of 82nd Street. The man’s jacket lay on the sidewalk next to a pool of blood.

A group of officers walked up and one officer shined a flashlight on the sidewalk. A white-gray cat ran up and an officer scooped it up, walked to the edge of the crime scene near 82nd and let it go, shooing it away.

The cat returned a few moments and continued to walk back and forth on the grass, a few feet from the blood.

• Around the same time early Friday, a 22-year-old man was shot on Lake Shore Drive in the Gold Coast neighborhood, Gaines said.

He was driving north when another car pulled up near North Avenue and someone inside fired shots, Gaines said.  The man as hit in the arm and drove to Lurie Children’s Hospital, where he was listed in good condition, Gaines said.

• At 9:15 p.m. Thursday, a 19-year-old man was shot in the Little Village neighborhood on the West Side, police said.  The man was in the alley in the 3000 block of South Keeler Avenue when he was hit, Gaines said. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was listed in good condition, Gaines said.

• At 5:40 p.m., a 20-year-old man was shot in the arm and leg in the 3000 block of South Homan Avenue in the Little Village neighborhood, Sweeney said.  He was on the sidewalk when a vehicle drove up and someone fired shots, Sweeney said.

The man was taken to St. Anthony’s Hospital, where he was in good condition, Sweeney said.