Three men are accused of shooting a 14-year-old boy and attempting to shoot a Chicago police sergeant who came upon them as they fired on people on a South Side street, authorities said.

Antonio Davis, 19, Clifton Banks, 20, and Jerald Hopkins, 19, all of the South Side, each face one count of aggravated battery with a firearm in the 14-year-old's shooting on Monday, and one count of attempted first-degree murder in firing shots at the sergeant in the same attack, according to police. They were charged early this morning, police said.

Hopkins and Banks were ordered held on $1.5 million bond, and Davis on $1 million bond, in a hearing midday today.

The incident happened about 2 p.m. Monday in the 6200 blocks of South Vernon and South Eberhart Avenues, when a van drove by on Vernon and began firing shots at people on the street, police said.

The boy initially was listed in critical condition with a chest wound at Comer Children's Hospital, although his condition has since stabilized and he was alert on sitting up, family members said today.

A sergeant conducting a narcotics investigation came upon the shooting scene and confronted the suspects, according to a police press release today. Officer John Mirabelli said the sergeant was shot at as he attempted to pull over the van. The sergeant, who was not injured, fired back at the van without hitting anyone, police said.

Officers in other cars pursued the van, curbed it and arrested the three occupants, police said, adding that officers also found two handguns inside.

Residents in the area said gunfire broke out in front of a building at the corner of 62nd and Vernon Avenue a little before 2 p.m. Neighbors said the shooting continued down the street to 62nd and Eberhart.

Jerry Moon, a neighbor, said he heard about a dozen gunshots coming from two different guns.

Some neighbors said the shots came from a gold minivan. Moon said he saw police pursining an SUV from the scene a short time after the shooting. He said the SUV was speeding the wrong way on Vernon Avenue.

Neighbors said the teen was found in front of the building where the gunfire began.

Moon said a vacant lot on the block has had a number of gun fire incidents from warring drug dealers. Last month police exchanged gunfire with drug dealers near the lot.

"This is just a normal thing over here,'' said Moon who has lived in the area since 1972. "Within the last 10 years it just went to hell.''

The boy, who family members asked not to be identified, was shot twice in the abdomen, his family said.

Nathan Hicks, 15, the boy's cousin, said that the boy had just left summer classes at a nearby school and was talking with a group of friends when the shooting occurred. A van rolled up to the corner of 52nd and Vernon, and opened fire.

"They shot at the whole crowd, and they just caught him," Hicks said.

Davis, of the 5100 block of South Prairie Avenue, Banks, of the 6500 block of South Wolcott Avenue, and Hopkins, of the 6000 block of South Vernon Avenue, were expected in Cook County Bond Court today.

-- Carlos Sadovi and Robert Mitchum