UPDATES WITH ADDITIONAL SHOOTINGS
At least 39 people have been shot across Chicago, four of them fatally, as the city heads into Sunday morning of the Fourth of July weekend.
Last year’s Independence Day weekend ended with 66 people shot — a total that actually stoked cautious optimism with the lowest death toll for the July 4 weekend in nearly a decade.
On Saturday, Chicago Police touted a 14 percent decline in shootings this year compared to the first six months of 2016, and they hope to tamp down the holiday weekend violence with the help of a new gun violence strike force that includes ATF agents.
At least 1,776 people have been shot in the city this year, 310 of them fatally, according to data maintained by the Chicago Sun-Times.
One man was killed and two others were wounded in the most recent fatal shooting, which happened about 1:30 a.m. Sunday near the former Robert Taylor Homes on the South Side. Police found two of the men, ages 47 and 31, in the 4200 block of South State, according to Chicago Police. They had both been shot in the head. The older man was taken to Mercy Hospital, where he died, and the younger man was taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition. The third man, 49, showed up with a gunshot wound to the right arm at Mercy Hospital, where his condition stabilized. The Cook County medical examiner’s office did not immediately report the fatality.
Three people were killed in the weekend’s first fatal shooting, which happened about 8:50 p.m. Friday in the South Side Englewood neighborhood. John Hunter, 52, was found shot and pronounced dead at 12:27 p.m. Saturday at his apartment in the 5700 block of South Wells, police and the medical examiner’s office said. A police source said Hunter was apparently the third victim of a shooting that occurred about 15 hours earlier and also claimed the lives of two other men.
The two other men were killed as they stood on the porch of the building, police said. Those men, ages 30 and 50, were each shot in the chest and legs when two males walked up to them and opened fire. The older man was pronounced dead at the scene, and the younger man died at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. The medical examiner’s office has not released information about their deaths.
After the shooting, the gunmen got into a white car and drove away, police said. Officers took two suspects into custody Friday night.
The source said the third man was not found Friday night because the apartment was secured and there was no indication of additional victims. The man was discovered when a relative gained entry to the apartment the next day and found him dead.
The weekend’s most recent nonfatal shooting happened about 4:45 a.m. Saunday in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side. A 30-year-old man was walking in the 5100 block of West Madison when he heard gunfire and realized he’d been shot in the leg, police said. He was taken to Loretto Hospital, where his condition was stabilized.
At least 32 more people were wounded in separate shootings between 4:45 p.m. Friday and 5 a.m. Sunday.
Additionally, a Chicago Police officer fatally shot someone during an “armed confrontation” Saturday night in the Lawndale neighborhood on the Southwest Side. An AK-47 and a handgun were recovered at the scene, police said. The person’s identity has not been released as of Sunday morning.