Teen girl critically hurt in Roseland street fight

A 16-year-old girl was critically injured during an incident this morning in the Far South Side's Roseland neighborhood that one witness described as a street fight involving up to 25 teenagers.

Chicago police responded to 111 W. 115th St. at about 9 a.m. to a call of a disturbance, said Chicago Police Officer Laura Kubiak, a police spokeswoman. Police were still investigating the incident this afternoon.

The teen girl was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in critical condition, and a 15-year-old boy was treated and released on the scene, said Quention Curtis, a Chicago Fire Department spokesman.

A man who answered the phone at a nearby store said the fight broke out at about 9 a.m., just as he was opening up shop. He said the 20 to 25 teenagers involved were punching each other and wielding bottles and bats.

The fight appeared to start when "people just started talking trash to each other," said the man, who declined to give his name.

He said a teen girl was injured in one eye and was bleeding. It was unclear if she was involved in the fight or was a bystander caught in the middle, the man said.

Police soon arrived and arrested many of the teenagers, he said.

-- Andrew L. Wang

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