A 12-year-old boy was critically wounded when he was accidentally shot by another child Thursday night on the South Side.

The boy was hit in the chest inside a home in the 3500 block of South Rhodes shortly before 7 p.m., Chicago police said. He was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in critical condition, according to police and fire officials.

Another child had been handling a gun and accidentally fired it, police said. The child fled and the handgun was recovered at the scene, according to police. The child was later found and released by police, who said no charges were pending “at this time.”

Family members gathered outside Comer declined to comment. Community activist Andrew Holmes told the Chicago Sun-Times that the boy’s condition was stabilized but was still “fighting for his life.”

“We’re just praying for his healing and his recovery,” said Holmes. “We’ve got a lot of upset family members [and] upset friends.”

Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

The shooting happened at the T.K. Lawless Gardens, a housing complex where Ald. Sophia King (4^th) and state Rep. Kam Buckner have offices.

King said she was told the boy was accidentally shot by another 12-year-old on the 22nd floor of the building. “I think it’s a case of kids playing with a gun,” she said. “That never ends good.”

King said it’s “very concerning” that a gun wound up in the hands of a child, and she wants the gun owner to be held accountable.

Buckner, a Democrat whose 101^st District covers a large swath of Chicago, said he had only heard scant details about the shooting. But he acknowledged that “it’s been a rough few months over there.”

Nine other children 13 years or younger have been shot so far this year, according to Sun-Times’ records. Less than two weeks ago, a 13-year-old boy and his 14-year-old cousin were shot while walking in the South Chicago neighborhood

Of those nine children, two were killed — 7-year-old Jaslyn Adams, and 11-year-old Ny’Andrea Dyer.

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On nights when he’s not playing a game himself, Blackhawks defenseman Nikita Zadorov might be watching another NHL game.

Or he might not be. He has to balance his love for hockey while avoiding an overload.

“In the playoffs, I watch lots of games, for sure,” he said. “When it’s on NBC, definitely it’s easier to watch. Sometimes when I’m on the road or I’m eating, I turn it on [on] my phone.”

But the NHL won’t be on NBC or NBCSN starting next season. The league announced a new seven-year “A” package contract with ESPN in March, then a “B” package contract with Turner Sports, which airs games on TNT and TBS, in April.

That’s an exciting change for Zadorov and other Hawks, who are fans in general when their team isn’t involved. ESPN and Turner will put the NHL on more popular, more widely available platforms.

“It’s the right decision because ESPN is the biggest sports platform in the United States, probably the world,” Zadorov said. “It’s definitely a step forward for us to sell the game. We’re going to bring more people, more population to watch [us]. And it’s a big step up with the money as well for us, which is going to help us in the future with the next [collective-bargaining agreement].”

The money is undoubtedly the biggest positive from a league-business standpoint. The NHL will net $645 million annually from ESPN and Turner, plus another roughly $400 million annually from its ongoing Rogers/Sportsnet contract in Canada. It previously received less than $300 million annually from its contracts with NBC and Disney (for online streaming).

The increased TV revenue will balance the books after a devastating financial year and help the salary cap rise again — although that isn’t expected for another year or two.

“It’ll be good to get some freshness after the year we all had with COVID and everything,” Hawks forward Brett Connolly said. “It’ll be different, but hopefully it’s an advantage, which I think it will be.”

Only the Hawks’ national broadcasts — not the local ones on NBC Sports Chicago — will be affected by the change, and they’re unlikely to be on national TV any more than before. NBC and NBCSN planned to air 109 regular-season NHL games nationally each of the last two seasons. The new contract gives ESPN 25 and Turner 72, for a total of 97 over a longer season. Every playoff game will continue to be nationally televised. (All other games will be streamed online out-of-market on ESPN+.)

The most anticipated changes may be outside the game broadcasts themselves. Turner’s NBA studio shows, such as “Inside the NBA,” are known for their fun and lighthearted (but still informative) approach, which could carry over to similar NHL studio shows. And Turner also plans to use affiliates Bleacher Report and HBO Max for additional content. ESPN, through “SportsCenter” and other shows, knows how to market superstars.

Essentially, the NHL has seen the NBA’s popularity explosion in the social-media age and hopes to follow the same path.

“I can’t wait to see Shaq breaking down our games,” Zadorov joked.

NBC, although consistent with its NHL broadcasts since 2006, was often too serious, stagnated over time, stubbornly kept around unpopular commentators and didn’t highlight individual stars as much as it could have.

The Hawks’ final game this season, Monday night against the Stars, will be their last on NBCSN.

“NBC has done a good job. It’s been a long relationship,” Hawks coach Jeremy Colliton said. “But certainly ESPN has a huge platform. And TNT as well — they’ve got a lot of experience with big-time sports, so it’ll be interesting to see what they do with it. Hopefully we can all work together to build the game.”

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Chicago Bears: Seeing Aaron Rodgers news is music to our ears by Vincent Parise

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Chicago Bears (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

With two NFC North quarterbacks being hot topics around the league for very different reasons, it’s a good opportunity to look at why they slid in their respective drafts. The Chicago Bears finally secured themselves what should be a franchise quarterback in Justin Fields, but he’ll have a long way to go in order to come close to his current division foe.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has been one of the best to ever do it, and he’s done it now for nearly two decades. Tormenting the Bears for years, Rodgers has been the proverbial insult to injury.

While the Bears have still not had a 4,000-yard passer or a legitimate All Pro quarterback, Rodgers continues to perform at a high level year-in and year-out. Along the way, he’s typically curb-stomped the Bears twice a year. Very rarely have the Bears come out victorious against Rodgers.

But, are the tides about to dramatically change for these two teams?

While the Chicago Bears are getting ready for Justin Fields’ rookie year, the Packers could be looking at life without Aaron Rodgers.

Whatever is happening in Green Bay right now is certainly not how Packer fans planned their offseason. The standoff between the Packers and Rodgers continues to get more and more interesting by the day, and he could soon be in a different uniform.

For now, it looks like the Bears have the most faith and excitement around their quarterback situation. Fields could end up being their guy for the next decade-plus.

Not only is Fields a tremendous talent, but he slid in the draft and now enters the league with a chip on his shoulder — similar to how Rodgers entered the league once upon a time.

The Draft slides could have come for different reasons, but both Fields and Rodgers had a few negative aspects to their scouting reports, respectively. This was an opportunity for us to take a dive into each quarterback’s collegiate production and how they compare side to side. First up, it’s the passing game.

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Five people were wounded in shootings Thursday across Chicago, including a 12-year-old boy who was critically hurt in Douglas on the South Side.

Shortly before 7 p.m., the boy was shot in the chest inside a home in the 3500 block of South Rhodes Avenue, Chicago police said.

He was rushed to Comer Children’s Hospital and listed in critical condition, according to police and Chicago Fire Department officials.

The boy was shot by another child who was playing with a handgun and accidentally fired it, police said. The child fled and the handgun was recovered at the scene.

A man was shot Thursday morning as he was dropped off in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on the West Side.

A woman in a black Jeep then pulled up at 5:50 a.m. in the 1500 block of North Campbell Avenue and fired shots at the man, police said.

The man, 21, was shot in his inner thigh and buttocks, police said. He went to Stroger Hospital, where he was listed in fair condition.

Also Thursday morning, a driver was in serious condition after he was shot several times by people in another car in the West Garfield Park neighborhood.

At least two shooters opened fire from a maroon car at 6:45 a.m. in the 4100 block of West Congress Parkway, police said.

Eleven rounds struck the man’s silver sedan, and three of the bullets hit the 52-year-old man in the abdomen, police said. Media reports showed the man’s car crashed into a concrete barrier.

He was taken to Stroger Hospital in serious condition police said. No arrests have been made.

A gas station employee was shot Thursday night in Burnside while trying to stop a group of males from leaving the store without paying for an item.

About 8:40 p.m., the employee came from behind the counter to stop a group of three males from leaving the store in the 400 block of East 95th Street without paying when one pointed a gun at him, police said.

The employee, a 37-year-old man, grabbed the gun and pushed it toward the ground as the person fired shots, striking him three times in the leg, police said.

The group fled the scene and the employee was transported to the University of Chicago Medical center in fair condition, police said.

In the day’s first reported shooting, a 19-year-old man was wounded in a road-rage related shooting in Ravenswood on the Northwest Side.

About 1:40 a.m., he was a passenger of a vehicle and the driver got into an argument with the driver of a black BMW in the 4400 block of North Western Avenue, after the two vehicles almost collided, police said.

The driver of the black BMW then pulled alongside him and fire a shot that went through the door and struck the 19-year-old in the leg, Chicago police said. He was driver to Weiss Memorial Hospital where he is in fair condition.

Thirteen people were shot, two fatally, Wednesday in Chicago.

Read more on crime, and track the city’s homicides.

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For 18 years, everything has been going Steve’s way. He’s a smart and warmhearted young man with wonderful parents, terrific friends, fantastic teachers and a future so bright he really does have to wear shades.

And then, in the span of maybe five minutes, it all falls apart. There’s a man lying dead on the floor of his own store, and Steve is accused of being part of the chain of events that led to this tragedy. Now it’s up to the courts and a jury to decide his fate.

The still-timely and provocative crime procedural “Monster” has lingered in movie limbo since premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018 but is now finally seeing the light of day thanks to — you guessed it — Netflix. Based on the popular and acclaimed 1999 book by Walter Dean Myers and adapted with style and a keen sense of pacing by music video and commercial director Anthony Mandler, “Monster” is a cautionary tale about a good kid who gets caught up with the wrong people at the wrong time and sees that bright future fading into the abyss — because even though he maintains he’s innocent, he’s a Black teenager accused of being an accessory to a deadly crime in the New York City of the 21^st century, and the wheels of justice are not calibrated to grind in his favor.

Kelvin Harrison Jr. turns in an empathetic and nuanced performance as Steve Harmon, who lives in a comfortable townhouse in Harlem with his loving and supportive parents (Jennifer Hudson and Jeffrey Wright, both terrific), attends a top-tier high school and has ambitions of becoming a filmmaker. (Hence the camera he carries practically every waking moment.) Steve does his best to keep to himself as he rides his bicycle through the neighborhood, avoiding contact as much as he can with the local gang-bangers and drug dealers lurking on the corners. But late one night, the Harmons’ idyllic existence is shattered when the police show up at their door and arrest Steve in connection with a robbery at a local bodega that resulted in the murder of the store’s owner.

Director Mandler and cinematographer David Devlin nimbly switch filters to reflect various stops along the timeline. At times Steve’s neighborhood looks glorious and sun-dappled and we feel his life is filled with promise; but when we’re in the courtroom or with Steve in jail, the lighting is harsh and bleak and unforgiving. “Monster” features a number of stellar supporting performances, including Jennifer Ehle as Steve’s attorney, who is sympathetic to his case but tells him the odds are stacked against him (“You are young, black and on trial”); Tim Blake Nelson as a teacher who believes Steve is innocent and has tremendous potential; the rapper Nas as the obligatory longtime inmate who becomes a mentor to Steve in jail. and Rakim Mayers a.k.a. A$AP Rocky and John David Washington as the local bad guys who try to recruit Steve as a lookout for the robbery. (We eventually find out exactly what role Steve played — or didn’t play — in the crime, and I’ll leave it at that.) This is an A-list cast that consistently elevates the material, even when we’re traveling down some very familiar roads.

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A 12-year-old boy was “fighting for his life” after he was wounded in a shooting Thursday night on the South Side, a community activist said.

Shortly before 7 p.m., the boy was shot in the chest inside a home in the 3500 block of South Rhodes, Chicago police said.

He was rushed to Comer Children’s Hospital and listed in critical condition, according to police and Chicago Fire Department officials.

The boy was shot by another child who was playing with a handgun and accidentally fired it, police said.

The child fled and the handgun was recovered at the scene, according to police.

Family members gathered outside Comer declined to comment or provide information about the boy who was shot.

Community activist Andrew Holmes told the Chicago Sun-Times that his condition was stabilized but he was still “fighting for his life.” Holmes said it’s unclear whether the boy was intentionally shot or wounded in an accidental discharge, as one person at the scene claimed.

“We’re just praying for his healing and his recovery, and that the detectives work the streets to find out who the shooter was,” said Holmes. “We’ve got a lot of upset family members [and] upset friends, and we don’t want this to turn into a retaliation, but we’re pitching and pleading for the individual to turn yourself in.”

Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

The shooting happened at the T.K. Lawless Gardens, a low-income housing complex that also houses the offices of Ald. Sophia King (4^th) and state Rep. Kam Buckner.

King said she was told the boy was accidentally shot by another 12-year-old on the 22nd floor of the building.

“I think it’s a case of kids playing with a gun,” she said. “That never ends good.”

While King said it’s “very concerning” that a gun may have wound up in the hands of a child, she wants the gun owner to be held accountable.

Buckner, a Democrat whose 101^st District covers a large swath of Chicago, said he had only heard scant details about the shooting. But he acknowledged that “it’s been a rough few months over there,” noting that additional police resources had recently been deployed to the area to focus on the crime.

“That area’s been really active, even through the pandemic,” said Buckner.

Nine other children 13 years or younger have been shot so far this year, according to Sun-Times’ records. Less than two weeks ago, a 13-year-old boy and his 14-year-old cousin were both shot while walking in the South Chicago neighborhood

Of the nine children shot under 13 years old, two were killed — 7-year-old Jaslyn Adams, and 11-year-old Ny’Andrea Dyer.

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The teenager allegedly carjacked and robbed a woman Wednesday in the 10200 block of South Calhoun Avenue.

A 17-year-old boy is facing charges after allegedly carjacking a woman Wednesday in South Deering.

The teen boy was arrested after he was identified as the person who carjacked and took personal items from a 32-year-old woman by force about 4 p.m. in the 10200 block of South Calhoun Avenue, Chicago police said.

Officers arrested the boy in South Chicago, about an hour and a half after the carjacking happened, police said.

The teen was charged with one felony count each of aggravated vehicular hijacking and aggravated robbery, according to police. He was also charged with a misdemeanor for theft and was cited for possession of a replica firearm.

He was expected back in juvenile court Thursday.

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The 37-year-old employee came from behind the counter to stop a group of three males from leaving the store in the 400 block of East 95th Street without paying, when one pointed a gun at him

A gas station employee was shot Thursday night in Burnside while trying to stop a group of males from leaving the store without paying for an item.

About 8:40 p.m., the employee came from behind the counter to stop a group of three males from leaving the store in the 400 block of East 95th Street without paying when one pointed a gun at him, Chicago police said.

The employee, a 37-year-old man, grabbed the gun and pushed it toward the ground as the person fired shots, striking him three times in the leg, police said.

The group fled the scene and the employee was transported to the University of Chicago Medical center in fair condition, police said.

No one is in custody as Area Two detectives investigate.

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The win over the Hornets, to go along with the Toronto loss to Washington, still kept the Bulls four games back in the chase for a final play-in spot, but could be doing harm to the dwindling lottery odds they have left.

Much of the focus from the new Bulls regime at the start of this season was getting the likes of a Zach LaVine into position to play a “meaningful game.’’

They continued to give themselves that chance on Thursday, after getting a few All-Stars back in the starting lineup and then hammering the Hornets in Charlotte 120-99.

Center Nikola Vucevic returned from a sore hip to score 29 points and grab 14 rebounds, while LaVine played his first game since being sidelined with a positive coronavirus, scoring 13 in 27 minutes of work.

With Washington beating Toronto in overtime, the Bulls stayed within four games of the Wizards for that final play-in spot in the Eastern Conference, leaving the remaining six games meaningful to a certain extent.

The problem, however, is the most meaningful game could be one the Bulls want LaVine and Vucevic nowhere near.

Next Thursday, the Bulls host Toronto in what could be two disappointing teams wrapping up the regular season. At least on the surface.

What’s really on the line, however, is about 5%.

Following Thursday, the two teams are now separated by just a half game, with the Bulls sitting in the 11^th seed in the East and the Raptors 12^th. In lottery land, however, that puts the Bulls at No. 8 and the Raptors now at No. 7 in the loss to the Wizards.

Big deal?

It is if you no longer have a first round pick unless you land in the top four and that pick is protected.

That’s the situation the Bulls find themselves in with just six games left to play. If lottery luck gives them the cold shoulder on June 22, and they land five or higher that 2021 pick goes to Orlando as part of the Nikola Vucevic deal.

The No. 7 team has a 31.9% chance of landing in the top four, while it drops to 26.3% for the No. 8 team. When there’s two talented point guards like a Cade Cunningham and Jalen Suggs expected to go in that top four, every percentage point counts.

According to Bulls coach Billy Donovan, there have been no discussions with executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas about sitting players as of yet, but could that change by next week?

After all, the difference between missing the playoffs and still having a top four pick, as well as an All-Star in Vucevic, compared to missing the playoffs without a first-round addition from a very talented draft class is night and day.

The Bulls would only have a 7.5% chance of landing No. 1 if they could regain that seven spot, but this is an organization that defied lottery odds before, hitting on a 1.7% in 2008, landing Derrick Rose.

So while it looks like the numbers are stacked against them no matter where they finish, this is still about playing the odds.

Now try selling that to the current Bulls players, especially LaVine, after he missed 11 games in the NBA health and safety protocol.

“I mean, I’m not that type of guy,’’ LaVine said, when asked about being shutdown by his bosses at some point. “Obviously, if that conversation comes up, it won’t be coming from me.

“If that conversation comes up, it may or may not, but for me I want to go out there and play.’’

The Hornets found that out from both LaVine and Vucevic, as the one-two punch did their damage in a 34-point first quarter and a 37-point third quarter.

According to Vucevic, however, LaVine’s presence was the key.

“It was huge,’’ the big man said after the game. “Obviously we’re a much different team with Zach out there, obviously a much better team with him in the lineup.’’

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Maybe if Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert and Adam Engel were all healthy, none of the admitted mistakes Tony La Russa made in his first 29 games would be viewed as monumental.

Maybe if Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert and Adam Engel were all healthy, none of the admitted mistakes manager Tony La Russa has made in his first 29 games would be viewed as monumental.

Maybe Jimenez hits one out of the park against Sonny Gray and the Sox beat the Reds 1-0 Wednesday instead of losing 1-0 in 10 innings and La Russa doesn’t use closer Liam Hendriks needlessly and doesn’t get exposed for not knowing a rule.

Maybe good speed, no hit outfielder Billy Hamilton isn’t put in the difficult position – for him – to drive in the tying run in the 10th, an assignment La Russa allowed him to undertake. Maybe Leury Garcia, in an inexplicable decision in the view of almost everyone except La Russa doesn’t try to steal second base and get thrown out by Gold Glove catcher Tucker Barnhart, an attempt leading perplexed Sox radio voice Darrin Jackson to say on the air, “I don’t know what we’re doing out there.”

Because of the injuries, the Sox aren’t the team chairman Jerry Reinsdorf thought he was handing to La Russa to manage. And because they aren’t that team, the margin for error in the dugout has been lessened.

And so the spotlight has brightened on a Hall of Fame manager who has a growing number of people in the Sox organization wondering if he’s up to the task.

“There are a lot of things where you watch and say it’s isolated,” an organization source said of La Russa’s decisions and the latest misstep (not knowing a rule) Wednesday, “but yet it’s not. They keep happening.”

The rest of the baseball world has watched the 76-year-old La Russa guide the Sox to a 16-13 record and trailing first place Cleveland (17-13) by a half game going into a weekend series against division rival Kansas City (16-14). One division scout said it’s too soon to declare the hire a mistake on May 7. But the concerns that were immediately voiced when La Russa was hired haven’t gone away.

“There have been some obvious questions whether he has the energy and focus to really stay locked in for a whole game,” the scout said. “Not knowing the extra-inning base running rules isn’t good, but it’s not the end of the world either. Let’s see how he handles the bullpen, pinch hitting, defensive replacements, how often he mixes and matches to supplement the injury losses.”

The buck stops with La Russa and he accepted blame for not knowing the rule, but he has an entire staff including bench coach Miguel Cairo, third base coach and former bench coach Joe McEwing, former manager Jerry Narron and others who apparently didn’t know that Jose Abreu could have been the free runner at second base in the 10^th inning Wednesday instead of having $54 million closer Liam Hendriks risk an injury trying to score a tying run while running the bases for the second time in his career.

That, along with La Russa saying he didn’t know Lucas Giolito was out of gas when he was left in to let a game get away from him starts ago, admittedly leaving Matt Foster in a game too long while he took a pounding against the Mariners on the first road trip, were head scratchers. Things like batting Jake Lamb fifth, not batting Andrew Vaughn enough and giving Hamilton too many at-bats have also been disputed.

All of it has left observers wondering what happens if there is another misstep, and whether it gets to a place where Reinsdorf asks La Russa – because he has admitted mistakes — if they should reconsider the remarriage, although that quite possibly could be the furthest thing from the mind of either one. Few would expect Reinsdorf to pull the plug in La Russa’s first year back after he called letting former GM Ken Harrelson fire him in 1986 one of his biggest regrets.

La Russa is, after all, the third winningest manager in baseball history and has won three World Series. With starting pitching that leads the AL in ERA, a talented bullpen and probably enough offense to get by, the Sox aren’t going down in flames any time soon. Perhaps he needs a few more weeks to get a handle on the capabilities of his roster.

“We haven’t hit our stride yet,” the organization source said. “Is Tony going to cost us some games? I hope not.”

NOTES: The first game of the Sox doubleheader against the Royals next Friday at Guaranteed Rate Field was switched from 1:10 p.m. to 2:10 p.m. Game 2 is 7:10 p.m. with both games seven innings.

*Despite Tony La Russa’s relationship with 41-year-old future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols from their days together with the Cardinals, the Sox were not expected to sign the DH-first baseman who was released by the Angels Thursday.

*Friday starter Carlos Rodon owns a 3.69 ERA in seven career starts against the Royals. Rodon led the AL in April in ERA (0.72), average (.085), slugging percentage (.146), OPS (.348), WHIP (0.64) and hits per nine innings (2.52) over four starts.

*Veteran outfielder Brian Goodwin, signed to a minor league deal this week, was assigned to Class AAA Charlotte.

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