Mother of Chicago mass shooting victim speaks out, believes attack was hate crime: 'they all played dead'

CHICAGO - The mother of one of the victims who survived a mass shooting this week is speaking out.

The mother didn't want her identity revealed because of safety reasons, but she says she believes this targeted attack was a robbery and a hate crime because her child and her friends are transgender.

She believes there is a connection between at least one of the victims and one of the shooters.

Five people were shot Monday afternoon at an apartment in South Shore near 78th and Exchange. Two people were killed, and three others were wounded. Three of the victims are transgender.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office identified the two deceased as Alexsandra Olmo, 43, and Jael Burgos, 20.

The mother tells FOX 32 two gunmen kicked down the apartment door and demanded everyone get on the ground and give them money.

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"They shouldn't be walking around. They could still kill anybody, they don't have a good heart," she said of the shooters.

The mother told FOX 32 that her son, who identifies as a woman, was shot seven times — four times in the upper body, twice in the face and once near the eardrum.

The gunmen fled and left the victims behind.

"They all played dead for their own benefit because they were shooting all crazy," the victim's mother said, adding her child ran to get help, driving to a nearby McDonald’s. "He saw they didn't come back, so he ran for his life. And then he said when he jumped into his car, he thinks he saw the gunman by the bus stop standing there and just stare at him."

The mother says her child remains in the ICU along with another victim.

Chicago police are still looking for the suspects and Monday couldn’t discuss a motive because they said it was "unique to the crime."

There is a $15,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest.