71-year-old man shot and killed outside elementary school in Chicago’s Chinatown

An elderly 71-year-old man was killed from gunfire in Chicago’s Chinatown on Tuesday.

The incident: The shooting occurred in broad daylight at around 12:30 p.m. on the 200 block of West 23rd Place near John C. Haines Elementary School, according to WGN-TV.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported that the victim’s name was Woom Sing Tse.
Police said that Tse was reportedly on his way to buy a newspaper from a store in Chinatown when a man in a silver sedan drove by and fired at him from the car. The gunman then left the car to fire more shots at Tse on the ground before driving off.
Tse was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital.
Some elementary school children were also outside and in recess when the shots were heard, with many of the parents later saying how frightened they were. One eighth-grader spoke of how the principal told the students to stay hidden and keep quiet while her classmates were crying and texting their parents.
“They didn’t really stop. So I heard what I think was probably 10 or 11 shots, and then probably two or three minutes later I heard sirens, and then I heard more sirens — and I came out, and we are outside of a shooting, right outside my apartment,” Taylor Baird, a nearby resident who thought the sounds were initially fireworks, said.

The aftermath: Authorities arrested a possible suspect at Jackson Boulevard on the Kennedy Expressway, according to CBS.

Police used a license plate reader on the expressway and stopped the car there. They found a gun inside and described the suspected shooter as in his 20s with a criminal record. The man’s motives are unknown as of this writing.
WGN reported that at around the same time as the shooting, police responded to a robbery at Central Port Emporium by 23rd Street and Wentworth Avenue in Chinatown. The robber stole hundreds of dollars, was around 6’1 to 6’3 and wearing a green-hooded coat.
A candlelight vigil was later held by the Chinese Christian Union Church of which Tse’s daughters are members, according to decon Chris Javier.
“There’s a lot of work to do, but it’s necessary, and tonight’s proof of why it’s necessary,” Javier said about the need for public safety.
CBS analyzed police data from the year and found that seven people were shot in Chinatown and four from last year around the same period.

Featured Image via WGN-TV

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