UPDATES WITH ADDITIONAL SHOOTINGS
A 15-year-old boy was killed and at least 20 other people have been wounded in Chicago shootings throughout the Memorial Day weekend, with eight victims shot in a five-hour spate of violence early Sunday.
The 15-year-old boy was killed Sunday evening in a drive-by shooting in the West Side Lawndale neighborhood that also left a 16-year-old girl wounded. The two teenagers were in a gangway about 6:30 p.m. in the 1600 block of South St. Louis when someone fired shots at them from a passing gray sedan, according to Chicago Police. The boy was shot in the back and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died, police said. The Cook County medical examiner’s office did not immediately report the fatality. The girl suffered a graze wound to the back and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital.
With a single fatal shooting since Friday evening, this year’s holiday weekend is much less violent than last year’s so far.
Last year, 44 people were shot, four of them fatally, by Sunday evening of the long holiday weekend, which is widely viewed as the unofficial start of the summer — with an accompanying surge in city gun violence. By the end of that weekend, 69 people had been shot, leaving 6 dead. Twelve people were killed and 43 wounded over 2015’s holiday.
To combat this year’s anticipated carnage, Chicago Police are flooding the streets with 1,300 extra patrol officers through early Tuesday.
That happens to be about the same number of people who have been shot in the city so far this year: 1,309, according to Chicago Sun-Times data. Of those, 223 have died.
This weekend’s latest nonfatal shooting happened about 7:50 p.m. Sunday in the West Pullman neighborhood on the Far South Side. A 28-year-old man was on foot in the 11700 block of South Wallace when he heard shots, police said. He had been shot in the right forearm and went to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in fair condition.
About eight hours earlier, a 24-year-old man was shot in the West Woodlawn neighborhood on the South Side. He was shot in the leg while standing outside about 11:40 a.m. in the 700 block of East 67th Street, police said. The shooter opened fire from a nearby vehicle. The man was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where his condition stabilized.
Just before 8 a.m., a 24-year-old man was seriously wounded in a drive-by shooting in the South Side Englewood neighborhood. He was walking on the sidewalk in the 6900 block of South Morgan when someone fired shots from a gray car, police said. The man suffered a gunshot wound to both legs and both feet and went to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.
A 34-year-old man was shot about 5 a.m. in the South Shore neighborhood. He was shot in the back while standing outside in the 6800 block of South Crandon, police said. He was taken in serious condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital. The man was the eighth person shot in the first five hours of Sunday morning.
At least 15 other people have been shot in Chicago since 7 p.m. Friday. Follow city violence over the holiday with the Sun-Times weekend shootings tracker.
On Friday night, 53 people were arrested, including 30 who were arrested during pre-emptive raids, in anti-violence initiatives targeting the South and West sides, according to a statement from Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. Police teams also recovered four illegal guns and issued more than 70 traffic citations.
Seventy-seven people were arrested Saturday night into Sunday morning, Guglielmi said. Ten illegal guns were seized and 176 traffic citations were issued.