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• Mar 30, 2008 10:28 pm US/Central
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  Weekend Comes To An End With 4 Teens Shot

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Weekend Comes To An End With 4 Teens Shot

CHICAGO (CBS) ― There seems to be no end to teen violence. There have been two more shootings in the past 24 hours. CBS 2's Dana Kozlov reports on what's being done to curb the violence.

Active policing is certainly one way to help combat street violence, but those involved in stopping gangs and guns say police can only do so much and everybody should be concerned.

First there was the sound of gunfire on the 1600 block of West 85th Street, moments later, a 14-year-old girl, running from the shots collapsed.

"They said a car had come past and they started shooting. Basically the girl and boy supposedly got shot twice," said one witness.

At 12:30 p.m. Sunday, another teenager, an 18-year-old man, was shot in the leg as he walked down an Englewood Street.

Those shootings are in addition to the murders of two other teenagers – 15-year-old Miguel Pedro and 18-year-old Chavez Clark – since Friday, making this a violent weekend for young adults in the city.

So far this school year, 20 Chicago Public School students have been killed by gunfire. An unknown amount of others have been victims of violence. There are obviously no easy answers to solving teen violence, but activists say we have to keep talking about it.

"Nine times out of 10 these kids want to come to an amicable agreement, they don't want to shoot," said Ameena Matthews, an anti-violence acitvist.

Matthews is a violence interruptor for Cease Fire, an anti-gun and violence organization. Matthews says any sort of solution likely requires change in parenting, resources and outreach to give at-risk kids a sense of hope and self-worth.

"And these kids, they don't have a broader spectrum of life-- it's like tunnel vision. They think they're going to die living the life they live and they help it," she said.

The 18-year-old student killed over the weekend was shot as he was leaving Simeon High School. Schools CEO Arne Duncan will on site at the school Monday morning, visiting students and answering some questions about yet another violent year for Chicago's students.

(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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