Chicago Busts 2 in 13-Person Park Shooting

But shooter still believed to be at large
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 24, 2013 1:58 AM CDT
2 Busted in Chicago Mass Shooting
Officials convene at the scene of last week's shooting at Cornell Square Park in Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood.   (AP Photo/Sun-Times Media, Chandler West)

Chicago police have made a breakthrough in the mass shooting last week that left 13 people injured—and led to talk of the National Guard being brought in to assist city cops. Two men in their early 20s have been arrested and charged with attempted murder and aggravated battery with a firearm, reports the Chicago Tribune. But neither man is believed to be the shooter; police believe the pair helped transport the military-grade weapon that was fired into a crowd gathered to watch a basketball game in a park.

"These charges are just the beginning," a police spokesman says. One of the suspects, 21-year-old Bryon Champ, is a known gang member who was sentenced to boot camp last year for unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, Reuters reports. The youngest victim of the shooting, 3-year-old Deonta Howard, is making a fast recovery and is expected to be out of the hospital within a few days despite having been shot in the cheek, his mother says. "He just keep saying, 'Ma, they shot me, they shot me with a gun. You heard me, mama?'" she says. "And I say, 'Yeah, I heard you.' But I just say, 'You OK. You a big boy. You a soldier.'" (More Chicago stories.)

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