A pair of teenage boys were found dead in a field on Chicago’s South Side during a weekend where 61 were shot, six killed, and a “peace picnic” was disrupted by gunfire.
The bodies of Raysuan Turner, 16, and Darnelle Flowers, 17, who had been reported as missing by family members, were discovered in a field in the Democrat-controlled city’s far South Side. Both were shot to death, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The teens were students at Chicago’s Christian Fenger Academy High School where both reportedly earned good grades. They also played on the school’s basketball team, family members said.
The teens were reported missing early on Friday before being found dead just over a day later.
Police were tipped to the whereabouts of the boys’ bodies when the family was texted that they could be found in high grass in an abandoned field.
Witnesses told police they heard gunshots from the area late Friday. A canvass of the area did not discover the bodies at first, but after police took another look, the bodies were discovered deep in the property in an area of overgrowth.
One of Turner’s relatives was heard crying, “I feel like I’m in a dream. I don’t feel like it’s real. It can’t be real. They’re killing the children.”
Local resident Adrienne Lando lamented that gangbangers don’t fist fight over gang slights anymore and instead immediately resort to gunfire.
It was just one more incident during a weekend that saw 61 shot and eight killed in the Windy City.
According to Chicago’s CBS affiliate, the bloodshed was immense for the second weekend in a row. With 61 shootings, “The bloodshed made for the second most violent weekend of the year in Chicago, and the second weekend this month at least 60 people were shot,” CBS said.
The Chicago Police reported a wide-ranging list of illegal activities interdicted:
Supt. Eddie Johnson will brief reporters on case progress & weekend violence this morning at 1030 @ CPD HQ. 3 people of interest have been taken into custody thus far: 68 gatherings were shut down for illegal activity; 83 guns seized & 29 arrested on gun charges since Friday. pic.twitter.com/wqoTvBHSmp
— Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) August 20, 2018
Violence even broke out at a neighborhood “peace picnic” when gunfire injured at least three people as parents and kids gathered to celebrate the impending start of the school year.
Witness said that the “peace picnic” was going fine until a group of gangbangers arrived and began starting trouble. Soon guns were drawn sending the picnic attendees scrambling.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.
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