16-YEAR-OLD BOY CHARGED IN SHOOTING OF OFFICER

A 16-year-old boy serving as a security guard for a narcotics operation at
a South Side housing development fired the gunshot that left a young
Wentworth District police officer clinging to life late Sunday, authorities
alleged.

Officials on Sunday cited the suspect in a juvenile petition, charging him
with attempted murder, aggravated battery and aggravated discharge of a
weapon. The teenager was apprehended shortly after the predawn shooting
Saturday at the Robert Taylor Homes building at 4101 S. Federal St.

He was scheduled to appear Monday for a detention hearing in Cook County
Juvenile Court. Prosecutors could seek to have the teenager transferred to
adult court.

The officer, 26-year-old Michael Ceriale, remained in critical condition
Sunday in Cook County Medical Center. By late Sunday, he had undergone four
surgeries.

"His vitals had stabilized Saturday afternoon but now they are erratic, and
we are guarding him very carefully," the hospital administrator said.

The bullet, fired at a distance of about 60 to 70 yards, lodged into
Ceriale's lower abdomen just as he and another young partner were seeking
cover to watch drug deals at the high-rise, Wentworth Area Detective Cmdr.
Danny Gibson said Sunday at a news conference. One police officer compared
the narcotics trade at the Taylor building to that at a grocery store.

Family members have kept a revolving vigil at the officer's bedside,
hospital officials said.

Throughout Sunday, Chicago police broadcast updates of Ceriale's condition
over the radio at the request of hospital officials, who said the high
volume of police calls was overloading switchboards there.

Administrators said the hospital received nearly 25 inquiries an hour.

The defendant's relatives described him as tall, gangly and unassuming, and
they said he had had frequent run-ins with the law.

He was charged as a juvenile Sunday because the counts against him do not
automatically trigger a transfer to the adult system.

Prosecutors still could seek to have the teenager tried as an adult, but
Marcy O'Boyle, a spokeswoman for the Cook County state's attorney, would
not disclose whether those charges would be sought.

Three relatives of the youth, an incoming junior at DuSable High School,
said that in interviews he was not in the vicinity of the shooting but that
he was at a party in a housing complex several blocks away.

He lives with his mother in the high-rise at 4022 S. State St., about a
block away from the shooting.

"He was at a party until 4 in the morning," his tearful mother said Sunday.
"I have 20 other people who saw him there. All I know is that (police) took
my baby away."

Police said they were continuing their investigation but would not say
whether they were seeking more suspects.

Gibson said the shooting took place about 3:30 a.m. Saturday as Ceriale and
his partner, both with about 18 months of experience, crouched in bushes to
get a clear and clandestine view of the alleged drug outfit working out of
the building.

The bushes, on Root Street next to the building, are banked by a concrete
wall and are set amid soiled mattresses, broken bottles and other filth. On
a wall nearby is the painted message, "Give a Helping Hand to Our
Community."

The officers were not in uniform, Gibson said, a measure of their advanced
responsibilities.

Ceriale "is an excellent officer. Otherwise, he wouldn't be in civilian
dress," Gibson said.

As the two officers angled for a view, police said, four young men worked
as sentries for the drug operation. Gibson said that after it became clear
their position might have been compromised, Ceriale turned to his partner
and said, "I think they made us."

Then, Gibson said, Ceriale was shot. The other officer was not injured.

In the hours following the shooting, Gibson said, several suspects were
held for questioning. He did not say whether the 16-year-old cited made
statements that led to the juvenile citation.

One relative who insisted on anonymity said the suspect performs in a dance
troupe and was performing at an all-night party several blocks away from
the shooting scene.

He said that the suspect had had a violent run-in with police on Thursday.

"That's why he's in trouble now," the relative said.

A resident of the high-rise where the shooting took place, who insisted on
anonymity for fear of reprisal, said the sentries likely did not suspect a
police presence.

"They was shooting at the other gangs," the man said. "There's a war going
on here."

Police sources confirmed that gunfire is frequently exchanged among gangs
in the complex, where transients shift from building to building.

"This is one of the worst buildings there is," said William Roberison, a
Wentworth District patrol officer and 19-year veteran, as he surveyed the
high-rise Sunday.

He described the active drug trade there: "It's like a grocery store. . . .
They run that first floor."

Roberison pointed to bullet holes in parked vehicles in a nearby parking
lot. The complex, he said, is gang-controlled, though these individuals go
into hiding whenever police are around.

"There's all these young guys, they don't even live in the building,"
Roberison said.