Chicago Park Shooting

An “assault-style” weapon was used in a late-night gang attack which wounded 13 people including a three-year-old boy in Chicago, police have revealed.

Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said it is “a miracle” that no one was killed and that such weapons belong on a battlefield, not on American streets.

He said laws are needed to restrict such weapons.

The child and two others were earlier reported to be in a critical condition following the attack in a park in the Back of the Yards neighbourhood late on Thursday.

Authorities said the shooting was likely to be gang-related and no one was believed to be in custody.

Many of the victims – most in their teens, 20s and 30s – were shot in the arms, legs or feet and the attack reportedly targeted people playing basketball.

One 24-year-old man was shot twice in the abdomen and was in serious condition, police said.

The three-year-old child was reportedly wounded in the cheek. Rev. Corey Brooks spoke to the boy’s relatives and said the youngster was resting with his mother.

“He was talking when they first brought him in, but he’s heavily sedated now,” he said.

The youngster’s grandmother Semecha Nunn said: “They say he’s good. They’re going to have to do a little plastic surgery on him, but he’s okay.”

The child’s uncle Julian Harris told the Chicago Sun-Times that men with dreadlocks fired at him from a car before turning towards Cornell Square Park and firing at people.

He said his nephew was wounded in the cheek.

“They hit the light pole next to me, but I ducked down and ran into the house,” Mr Harris said.

“They’ve been coming round here looking for people to shoot every night, just gang-banging stuff. It’s what they do.”

Francis John, 70, said she was in her apartment when the attack happened.

She said she went down to see what was going on and “a lot of youngsters were running scared”.

Ms John said she was surprised by what had happened, saying she has lived in the area for 30 years.

She told the Chicago Sun-Times there has not been much gun violence in the neighbourhood in recent years.

FBI figures have shown that Chicago has overtaken New York to become the murder capital of the US with 500 deaths in the last year.

President Barack Obama returned to his adopted hometown earlier this year to appeal for an end to the “senseless” gun violence ravaging Chicago.

He pressed for ambitious gun control measures, which so far have been stalled in the US Congress.