Pair of Chicago men charged after shooting 12-year-old boy at random, police say

CHICAGO - Police announced attempted murder charges on Friday against two men they say shot and critically wounded a 12-year-old boy at random on the city's Lower West Side earlier in the week.

ISAIAH RENTERIA, 22, of the 6500 block of S. Kedvale in the West Lawn neighborhood, and PEDRO MOLINA, 23, of the 3600 block of S. Damen Avenue in the McKinley Park neighborhood, have each been charged with five counts of attempted murder. Renteria was charged with an additional three felony counts of Aggravated Fleeing of Police greater than 21 miles per hour.

EDITOR'S NOTE: There's a bit of discrepancy on the age of the victim as Chicago Police continue to report the boy as 12-years-old but WGNNews' Brónagh Tumulty has been covering the case all week and has had lengthy discussions with the family and she continues to report that the boy is 13-years-old.^[1] Still, we'll continue to use the 12-year-old age until it's changed by Chicago Police.

As we originally reported, the incident happened around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday night on the 1800 block of West 21st Place on the city's lower west side where family members were still gathered after a grandmother's birthday party.^[2]

The boy was reportedly walking home with four additional family members (not just one as was originally reported), including two other 12-year-olds, after a quick run for more food to bring back to their grandmother’s birthday party. As they returned, shots were fired at the group from a nearby alley, with one of the bullets striking the 12-year-old victim in the temple. No one else in the group was hit. One of the boy's Uncles, who has a valid concealed carry license, reportedly returned fire but did not hit any of the offenders.

The boy was last reported to still be in critical condition.

Police said that the offenders had been circling the block Tuesday night in a black Dodge Charger "looking for someone to shoot,” said Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan.

Chicago Police spotted the car and gave chase until a Department of Homeland Security helicopter was able to pick up the chase. The chopper was able to follow the Dodge Charger down the Stevenson Expressway all the way out to the suburb of Hinsdale, where local officers deployed spikes to stop the car and take the occupants into custody.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Molina was in the back seat and the presumed shooter with gun residue on his hand, and Renteria was the driver.^[3]

Deenihan told reporters the later in the week that none of the family members who were walking with the children have gang affiliations. Investigators also added neither of the offenders indicated they knew who they were shooting.

Following up on the case, CWBChicago - a local crime site that has been notoriously tracking armed habitual criminals let out on low/no bond - reported that a Cook County judge made Isaiah Renteria pay just $1,000 to get out of jail on a Class X armed habitual criminal charge in November and that judge did not require him to go on to electronic monitoring.^[4] CWBChicago has additional details regarding previous arrests and incidents both for the two listed offenders in this case, as well as others.

The charges are officially listed below:

Isaiah Renteria, 22
6500 block of S. Kedvale Ave., Chicago, Illinois

• Five (5) felony counts – Attempt – Murder – First Degree
• Three (3) felony counts – Aggravated Fleeing/Police/21 MPH

Pedro Molina, 23
3600 block of S. Damen Ave., Chicago, Illinois

• Five (5) felony counts – Attempt – Murder – First Degree

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