SOUTH HOLLAND | The South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force is investigating a Thursday shooting that injured one man and left another dead in a field behind an elementary school.
School had let out for the day, but there were children in an aftercare program at Christ Our Savior Catholic School.
None of the children was injured.
South Holland police responded to a call of shots fired at 3:37 p.m. at 152nd Street and Drexel Avenue. They found a man dead in the field behind the school, according to a news release.
Kenneth Thomas, 24, of the 15400 block of Minerva Ave., was killed in the incident, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. An autopsy to determine the cause of death is scheduled for sometime Friday.
They found a second man shot, but alive, at 152nd Street and Cottage Grove Avenue.
South Holland Village Administrator J Wynsma said the incident doesn't have any connection to the school or the nearby St. Jude the Apostle Parish.
Wynsma said the wounded man was taken to Ingalls Hospital in Harvey.
Shortly after the shooting, yellow police tape blocked off an area surrounding a residence near the intersection of 153rd Street and Drexel Avenue, and police were focused on a large field behind the residence, where a tarp covered the body.
As night fell, investigators shined a light on the field and used flashlights to search for evidence in the street and around a home near the intersection of 153rd and Drexel.
Susan Burritt, director of media relations for the Archdiocese of Chicago, said children were not in harm's way at any time.
"The school was closed down until every parent came and picked up their child," she said.
School officials ensured the children were picked up on the side of the school opposite the crime scene, Burritt said.
Pearl Floran, who lives near the field, said a neighbor heard five gunshots.
A resident who pulled up to his home about 6 p.m. and found yellow police caution tape cordoning off part of his block said the shooting was "ridiculous." The man said he was born and raised in Chicago and didn't expect this type of violence in his South Holland neighborhood.
