Youth testifies he heard gunshots, then felt blood on leg

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Ten-year-old Sayed Chapman was on his way to a South Side park with friends and his twin brother to set off firecrackers when they heard two booms.

“We thought they were fireworks,” Sayed, now 12, softly testified in Cook County Judge James Linn’s courtroom Thursday.

But soon Sayed felt something in his leg and noticed blood trickling down from it as he stood in the 900 block of West 77th Street.

He had been shot.

Sayed said after the initial gunfire, he and the others saw a boy drive by on a moped. Close behind was a teenager they recognized from the neighborhood, he said. And Lejuan Young had a gun in his right hand, Sayed’s twin Seth testified at the opening of Young’s bench trial.

Young looked like he had a “six-bullet gun” that night on June 29, 2010, Seth said, explaining that he recognized the make of the weapon because he plays “action” and “shooting” videogames.

“He [Young] was pointing it to the guy on the moped,” Seth said.

The boys said they heard one more gunshot and saw Young run into an alley at Peoria and Green following the shooting that prosecutor Susanne Groebner said was gang related.

Sayed, who wore a t-shirt and jeans in court Thursday, said his bone had been shattered when he was caught in the crossfire. He wore a cast for two months.

Today, Sayed said he is pretty much back to normal, except, “the only activity I can’t do is [contact] sports.”

Young, 19, of the 7700 block of South Peoria Street, is facing attempted murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and aggravated discharge charges.

His bench trial will resume on Feb. 21.