2 custodians fatally shot at Mark Twain Elementary School near Chicago Midway Airport, police say
By Todd Feurer, Marissa Sulek
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CHICAGO, Illinois (WBBM) — Two custodians were killed in a shooting at a Chicago Public Schools elementary school on Monday afternoon near Midway International Airport.
Chicago police said that around 3:40 p.m., two people were found unresponsive inside Mark Twain Elementary School, at 5134 S. Lotus Ave. in the Garfield Ridge neighborhood.
Jacob Hernandez says he went to the school. He says he saw the police and fire response when he was biking by.
“I saw two people on a stretcher. They were trying to resuscitate somebody,” he said. “And I heard this guy, he was telling me he heard a girl screaming.”
A 48-year-old woman and a 63-year-old man both had been shot once in the head. Both victims were taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center, where they were pronounced dead. Police said a weapon was recovered at the scene.
CPS also sent out a letter from the principal saying, “It is with deep sadness that I inform you that this afternoon, shots were fired inside our building. I am sorry to share that members of our school community were impacted.”
The principal says there were no students inside the building at the time. They will give parents more information as the investigation unfolds. Students are not expected to go back to school for another couple of weeks.
Several parents came by the school after the shooting, concerned about what happened inside.
Felicia Puga said she’s now terrified to drop off her daughter at school once it starts on Aug. 24.
“How are we supposed to send our kids to school knowing something like this could happen potentially again?” she said.
Puga was ready to send her soon-to-be second-grader, Luna, to school and had open house a couple of days before. Now she’s considering sending her to another school nearby.
“Now I’m questioning if I should even send her, and hopefully there’s a school nearby, but we’re not in the district for it,” she said. “So we’re hoping maybe I can get her into that school, because something is not right here.”
As of Monday night, the identities of the victims were not released.
The shooting remains under investigation by Area 1 detectives.
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