Boy hurt in park shooting released from hospital
BY LEEANN SHELTON Staff Reporter September 25, 2013 11:46PM
Three-year-old Deonta “Tay-man” Howard was shot in the head Thursday night at Cornell Square Park in the Back or the Yards neighborhood. Deonta has undergone two surgeries and is expected to have more, the Rev. Corey Brooks said Monday. Deonta is aware and can shake his head, said Brooks, who has been in contact with the family. | Photo courtesy of Corey Brooks
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Updated: September 26, 2013 12:21AM
A 3-year-old boy injured in a mass shooting last week in the Back of the Yards neighborhood was released from the hospital Wednesday.
Deonta “Tay-man” Howard was the youngest of 13 victim in the Sept. 19 attack at Cornell Square Park near 51st and Wood.
The boy and his mother, Shamarah Leggett, have left the hospital and are in a “safe and loving location,” said Pastor Corey Brooks, founder of New Beginnings Church, where the boy and his family gathered for a news conference Wednesday evening.
Deonta was treated at Mount Sinai Hospital, where he had multiple surgeries for a bullet wound in his face.
“He’s doing well. He’s doing a lot better,” Brooks said Wednesday night. “The doctors say that he has a long road a head of him. Every couple of years, he’s going to have to have surgeries.”
Doctors plan to keep monitoring Deonta’s vision and perform some dental work, and they likely will have to perform plastic surgeries as he grows, Brooks said.
Four men have been charged in the shooting. Sources told the Chicago Sun-Times that the attack was revenge for a minor graze wound one of the suspects suffered several hours earlier in the 5200 block of South Paulina after a quarrel with gang rivals.
Deonta’s mother “was very thankful to the Chicago Police Department for catching the individuals and she hopes justice is done. She’s not judging them or condemning them, but she does want justice,” Brooks said.
