Shooting has Niles neighbors concerned
Phillip Reid said he and his family moved to Niles last year to get away from violence in Chicago.
So he was concerned when he learned a person had been shot Monday evening in the apartment complex next door to his home at the corner of Sycamore and North Sixth Street in downtown Niles.
“We didn’t expect this to happen in our neighborhood when we moved in,” he said. “Raising three children, you want to make sure they are safe.”
Niles Police reported Tuesday morning that 19-year-old Jonathan Cook, of Detroit, was found shot in the stomach inside a residence in the 200 block of North Sixth Street at around 7:23 p.m. Monday.
Cook was treated at the scene then transported in stable condition to Memorial Hospital in South Bend, Ind., where he is expected to make a full recovery.
No arrests had been made as of early Tuesday afternoon, and police said they didn’t yet know the motive for the crime.
Reid said he, his wife and children were home at the time of the shooting, but they didn’t hear a gunshot because they were playing music and watching television. Reid only learned of the shooting when a police officer knocked on the door to question him.
“The police said they didn’t have any concrete information … so we were left in the dark that it could be anybody walking in the neighborhood,” he said. “All that’s kind of disconcerting news to a young family.”
Reid, who moved into the residence in May 2011, said this is the first shooting nearby he knows of. However, he said it isn’t unusual to see police at the next-door apartments.
“They are there from time to time — the apartment’s known for it,” he said.