16 Wounded In Memorial Day Weekend Shootings Across Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) -- At least 16 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.
Last year, 26 people were shot, four of them fatally, during the first two days of the long holiday weekend, which is widely viewed as the unofficial start of 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: 1,304, according to Chicago Sun-Times data. Of those, 222 have died.
The weekend's latest attack happened about 5 a.m. Sunday in the South Shore neighborhood, when a 34-year-old 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.
Shortly after 4 a.m., a 29-year-old man was walking in the 6600 block of South Cottage Grove in the South Side Woodlawn neighborhood when another male walked up and demanded his money, police said. The suspect then opened fire, striking the man in the lower back, before running away. The man later walked into South Shore Hospital, where his condition was stabilized.
At 2:09 a.m., two men, ages 27 and 28, were in a vehicle driving south on King Drive and, as they turned onto 62nd Street, heard gunfire and realized they'd both been shot, police said. The younger man was shot in the right calf, while the older man suffered a gunshot wound to the right ankle. They showed up at University of Chicago Medical Center, where both of their conditions were stabilized.
A 25-year-old woman was walking through a park about 2 a.m. in the 1300 block of South Throop in the University Village neighborhood on the Near West Side when a male walked up and fired shots, striking her in the abdomen and left arm, police said. Her condition was stabilized at Stroger Hospital.
About 1:05 a.m., several males fired shots from a gangway at a 27-year-old man who was standing on a front porch in the 6600 block of South Campbell in the Southwest Side Marquette Park neighborhood, police said. The man was struck in the back and taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where his condition was stabilized, police said.
A 22-year-old man was shot in the lower abdomen while he was walking at 12:32 a.m. in the 4200 block of West Addison in the Old Irving Park neighborhood on the Northwest Side, police said. His condition was stabilized at Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
At 12:27 a.m., a man 29-year-old man was standing on the sidewalk in the 7100 block of South State Street in the South Side Park Manor neighborhood when someone in a gray car opened fire, striking him in the left thigh, abdomen and buttocks, police said. The man was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was listed in critical condition.
At least eight other people have been shot in Chicago since 7 p.m. Friday.
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.
Additional police patrols were present Saturday night along major thoroughfares and CTA stations, Guglielmi said. Chicago Police also focused on traffic safety initiatives on Lake Shore Drive to correspond with fireworks at Navy Pier, and Illinois State Police were conducting traffic safety initiatives on all Chicago area expressways.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
