Police: 4 Dead, 11 Wounded In Holiday Weekend Shootings Since Thursday Evening
(STMW) --Fourth of July weekend shootings have left four people dead and at least 11 others injured since 4:45 p.m. Thursday, police said.
The most recent fatal shooting happened Friday afternoon in a Bronzeville neighborhood park named after slain King College Prep student Hadiya Pendleton.
A 17-year-old boy — identified by authorities as Vonzell Banks of the 4500 block of South Prairie — and a 19-year-old man were standing outside Hadiya Pendleton Park in the 4300 block of South King about 4:45 p.m., when a vehicle approached and someone inside opened fire, police said.
Banks, a Dunbar Vocational High School junior, was playing basketball with his older brother, Vinny, and some friends when he was shot, his aunt, LaShanda Childs, told the Chicago Sun-Times.
"He was a loving child, getting ready to be a senior at high school," Childs said. "He was going to start a summer job on Monday. He was very excited about it."
Childs described Banks as a "church boy," who loved playing the drums and attended Cosmopolitan Church of Prayer.
Like Pendleton — in whose honor the park was renamed just two months ago — Banks was shot in the back. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:31 p.m., according to police and the Cook County medical examiner's office.
The man was shot in the right foot and was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where his condition was stabilized.
Police said Banks and the 19-year-old were likely not the intended targets of the shooting.
Earlier Friday, a man was killed and a woman was wounded in a South Side Washington Heights neighborhood drive-by shooting on the South Side.
The two were walking in the alley in the 9100 block of South Ashland about 1:20 a.m. when someone in a passing white van opened fire, police said.
Grover Tate, 47, of the 1500 block of West 95th Street, was shot in the head and was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.
The woman, 43, was shot in the abdomen and buttocks and was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where her condition had stabilized, police said.
A 26-year-old man was killed in the same block he lived in just after midnight Friday in the South Side Back of the Yards neighborhood.
The man, identified as Jose Hernandez, was sitting on a porch at 12:05 a.m. in the 4800 block of South Justine when another male walked up and shot him in the back, authorities said.
He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later, the medical examiner's office said.
An officer at the scene said the shooting — the second on that block in about nine hours — may have stemmed from a conflict involving the La Raza street gang. Neighbors said they heard about four to six gunshots.
"We were all in the kitchen you know, having bonding, family time, and this happens," said 15-year-old Jocelyn Avila, who lives on the block and also heard gunshots from the other shooting at 3 p.m. Thursday.
The weekend's first homicide happened Thursday evening in the Little Village neighborhood on the Southwest Side.
About 6:25 p.m., Joseph Gutierrez was riding a bicycle in the 2700 block of South Karlov when a gunman ran up and shot him repeatedly in the upper body, authorities said.
Gutierrez, of the 6200 block of South Kenneth, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 9:06 p.m., the medical examiner's office said. Police said the shooting may have been gang-related.
In the holiday weekend's most recent nonfatal shooting, a man was seriously wounded in a West Englewood shooting Saturday morning on the South Side.
The 24-year-old was in the 6600 block of South Bell at 11:43 a.m. when someone approached on foot, fired at him and ran away, police said.
He was shot in the abdomen and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in serious condition, according to police.
Earlier, two men showed up at a North Side hospital Saturday morning after they were shot in the Portage Park neighborhood.
The two said they were shot about 6 a.m. in the 4700 block of West Addison, police said. One man, 23, was shot in the right ear while the other man, 21, was shot in the left shoulder.
Both transported themselves to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where they are listed in good condition, police said.
Early Saturday, a 41-year-old man was shot while sitting in a vehicle in the North Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side.
About 3:20 a.m., the man was sitting in a parked vehicle in the 4200 block of West Cermak when he was shot in the back and right arm, police said. He was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where his condition stabilized.
Late Friday, shootings on the South and Far South sides left two men injured within minutes of each other.
At 11:45 p.m., a man was walking on a sidewalk in the 700 block of East 44th Street when someone fired shots out of a passing vehicle, striking him in the left shoulder and left thigh, police said.
He was taken to Provident Hospital, then transferred to Stroger Hospital. where his condition was stabilized, police said.
At 11:39 p.m., a 19-year-old man was standing outside in the 200 block of West 104th Street when he heard gunshots and felt pain, police said.
He was taken to Christ Medical Center, where his condition was stabilized, police said. The victim, who is a documented gang member, was not being cooperative with investigators early Saturday, police said.
At least three others were injured in shootings since Thursday evening.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2015. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
