A 37-year-old Brookfield man was arrested in the shooting that wounded two boys, ages 12 and 16, outside the Legler public library branch.
Police on Thursday announced the arrest of a suspect in a shooting Tuesday outside the Legler Regional Library Branch in West Garfield Park that wounded two boys, ages 12 and 16.
Charges are pending on a single count of aggravated battery with a firearm, police said Thursday. Officers on Tuesday took two suspects into custody a few blocks from the library soon after the shooting in the 100 block of South Pulaski Road.
Gunfire rang out near the library’s front doors around 5:40 p.m., police said. The 16-year-old was shot in the legs, and the 12-year-old was hit near his spine and was carried into the building by a security guard.
The 12-year-old went to the library nearly every day after school to get help with homework and participate in activities like painting, his grandfather, Darnell Weatherspoon, said Thursday after a news conference held on the library steps hosted by community organizations.
“He just stepped outside to eat,” Weatherspoon said. “They won’t let you eat in the library, so he went out to have a snack and they were shooting and he got hit.
