A slew of shootings across Chicago since Friday afternoon has resulted in seven deaths and 39 wounded , at last count. According to the Chicago Times , four deaths and 26 of the woundings occurred in the last 24 hours, in over 20 separate shootings. Most of those shot were young, almost all under 30 — many are in their late teens and early 20s.
Included among the victims were a pregnant 19-year-old, shot along with three friends in Morgan Park at 11:43 a.m., according to police spokesperson Officer Jose Estrada, and a man shot by another person while they sat together in the same car on Edgewater Beach.
According to Estrada, the victims of the Morgan Park shooting were taken to Stroger Hospital: a 23-year old man shot in the buttocks and a 20-year-old woman remain in critical condition. A 20-year-old man was shot in the leg and is currently in good condition. The pregnant 19-year-old woman was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center, where she also remains in critical condition.
The attack took place in the 1400 block of West 114th Place.
All four were attending a party when gunfire came out of nowhere, according to the house’s owner, Derrick Wright. He was hanging out on the porch with his sister and a friend, along with the four victims, when he went into the house to get his girlfriend a glass of water.
As he was returning to the porch, he heard multiple gunshots.
“When I heard that, that’s when they dived into the house.”
Wright’s younger brother threw himself on top of Wright’s girlfriend and the girlfriend of another friend; the pregnant 19-year-old. He was shot multiple times shielding them. The pregnant woman’s boyfriend described the experience, and said that she was three months pregnant.
“I’ve never seen anybody get shot this close to me. I’ve never seen bullet holes out somebody’s body before. To see that on my baby momma? That makes me think even harder. It pisses me off, but retaliation brings more drama. I should just call it a day and move the hell out of Chicago.”
“We hit,” repeated the friend and both women. Wright said that everyone was panicking. The 23-year-old man who was also injured was his sister’s fiance.
“I was just with my girl. I’m really hurt right now.
“We’re not going to stay here anymore because we don’t know who did it and the people around here, they might get somebody else. Thank God there were no kids here.”
The Chicago Sun-Times currently places the weekend death toll at 7.
A 20-year-old man was shot multiple times and fatally wounded in the 5800 block of South Maplewood Avenue. He was taken to Stroger and later pronounced dead. He was walking in an alley when someone walked up to him and opened fire.
An attack early Sunday outside a birthday party in the 700 block of North Ridgeway Avenue, East Garfield Park, left a 55-year-old man dead and two women wounded — there were at least 100 people on the block, which was decorated with balloons and streamers, when somebody opened fire. Witnesses said there was no sign of trouble before the shooting began.
“There was not an argument, nobody stepped on nobody’s foot. Next thing I know, everybody’s throwing their drinks and running. I threw my drink, too.”
A man was fatally shot at 4:27 a.m. in the 7200 block of South South Chicago Avenue, in the Grand Crossing area, shot in the chest. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in critical condition and pronounced dead shortly after.
A man in his 30s was killed at 5:10 a.m. Sunday in South Austin, found in the 900 block of North Massasoit Avenue in a car with gunshot wounds in his chest.
Estrada listed 18 more non-fatal shootings across Chicago; most were stabilized at the hospital, and the list of weekend shootings in Chicago – an already dangerous city that saw its murder rate rise 84percent in the first quarter of 2016, according to the New York Times— is still incomplete.
[Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images]