Chicago high school welcomes students back with added security, days after shooting near campus

CHICAGO - As Chicago Public Schools students begin week two of classes, there have already been shooting incidents outside two CPS high schools.

The first incident was Wednesday across the street from Carl Schurz High School on the Northwest Side where four teenagers were shot.

Friday, shots were flying again, this time about two blocks away from Michele Clark Academic Prep Magnet High School in Austin on the West Side.

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The shooting happened around 2:30 p.m. Friday when three young men were shot, two of them multiple times. Principal Charles Anderson said two of them were students at Michele Clark.

That's why administrators, teachers, pastors and parents gathered to greet students Monday morning and make them feel safe.

"We know when there's this kind of violence this close to a school that the students are traumatized. And it's very difficult to study when trauma is so immediate," said Rev. Marshall Hatch.

Parent Latonya Rounsaville described the effort as "offering a beacon of light for the kids."

She said she drove her own son to school and then picked up a second group of kids to make sure they felt protected.

"I told the kids 'when I was in school we didn't have this," Rounsaville said, pointing at the crowd of people welcoming students at the front door of the school.

"And I think it will help boost the morale of the children that it's safe to be here and it's going to take more than just this committee of people. It's going to take parents to come out as well."

"Everyone must know that they matter. And it was such tragedy that three people were shot just steps from the school," said Rev. Ira Acree. "That is unacceptable. It will not continue to happen on our watch."

Chicago police say there are nobody is in custody, and area detectives are investigating.