FILE - In this Sept. 20, 2013 file photo, Chicago Police detectives investigate the scene where 13 people, including a 3-year-old child, were shot in a city park in Chicago. Authorities on Monday night, Sept. 23, 2013, charged two men in connection with the shooting. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty, File)
September 23, 2013 - 7:57 PM
CHICAGO - Authorities on Monday night charged two men in connection with a shooting last week at a Chicago park that injured 13 people, including a 3-year-old boy.
Officials said 21-year-old Bryon Champ and 20-year-old Kewane Gatewood were charged in the shooting at Cornell Square Park, which is located in Chicago's southwest side.
Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said that while the two played significant roles in the shooting, neither is believed to have pulled the trigger.
McCarthy said detectives are continuing the investigation.
Authorities say as many as three people opened fire Thursday on a basketball court in the Back of the Yards neighbourhood. Among those injured were 3-year-old Deonta Howard, who is recovering from surgery after being shot near an ear, along with two teenagers.
Earlier Monday, police had said they were interviewing "several people of interest" in connection with the shooting and McCarthy sounded confident about case during a graduation ceremony for new officers.
"We are making great strides," McCarthy said then. "There's no doubt in my mind we're going to close this case quickly."
The shooting returned Chicago's gun violence problem to the nation's consciousness.
The assailants fired more than a dozen rounds from an assault-style rifle, police have said. They believe the shooting was gang-related, as several gang members were injured, although it's not yet clear who the intended target was.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel rode along with police officers late Sunday in particularly violent city neighbourhoods.
Emanuel has made curbing violence a high priority, allowing the police department to spend millions of dollars in overtime to saturate high-crime areas with hundreds of additional officers.
Through Sept. 15, police say they've recorded 306 murders and 1,402 shooting incidents this year. That's down 20 and 22 per cent, respectively, from the same period in 2012. Police say overall violent crime is down about 15 per cent, according to new figures released Monday.
News from © The Associated Press, 2013