‘She was just doing her job and they started shooting.’ Security guard, mother of 5, shot at Park Manor apartment buildingon May 5, 2021 at 12:30 pm

A security guard was wounded in a drive-by shooting as the mother of five helped a senior citizen in the lobby of a Park Manor apartment building Tuesday evening.

Someone opened fire from a passing dark-colored car toward the lobby of the Lafayette Plaza Housing Cooperative at 50 W. 71st St. shortly before 6 p.m., according to Chicago police.

One of the bullets struck Keiona James, 37, according to her sister Kira Allen. “She was just doing her job and they started shooting,” Allen said. “She really didn’t see anything.”

Paramedics took James to the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition, police said. James didn’t require surgery and was expected to be released from the hospital soon, Allen said.

In a phone call, James said she was “all right” but declined to say more.

Allen said she doesn’t believe her sister was the target of the shooting. James lives far from where she works and doesn’t know anyone in the neighborhood.

Police said an 18-year-old man was also injured in the shooting, but was not shot. He showed up at St. Bernard Hospital with abrasions, police said. In an earlier statement, officers said he had suffered a gunshot wound.

No one was in custody, police said.

Read more on crime, and track the city’s homicides.

Read More