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Chicago House Party Shooting Leaves 13 Wounded, 4 Critically, Police Say | Chicago House Party Shooting Leaves 13 Wounded, 4 Critically, Police Say |
(about 4 hours later) | |
A house party on the South Side of Chicago was meant to remember a man who was fatally shot during a carjacking in April, the authorities said. But the memorial itself erupted into violence early Sunday after at least two gunmen opened fire, wounding 13 people, four of them critically. | |
The shooting took place just after 12:30 a.m. in the Englewood neighborhood on the birthday of the carjacking victim, said Tom Ahern, a spokesman for the Chicago Police Department. About 70 people, including friends and relatives of the man, were in the two-story house at the time, he said. | |
The motive for the shooting on Sunday was not immediately clear. | |
Fred Waller, chief of patrol for the Police Department, said at a news conference that the authorities were still investigating any connection between the fatal carjacking and the shooting on Sunday. Two people were being questioned in connection with the shooting at the memorial, Chief Waller said. | |
He said he did not believe the shooting was gang-related, and that it was probably an “isolated incident” stemming from a “personal dispute.” | |
“It’s a terrible tragedy and frankly an incredible act of cowardice,” Lori Lightfoot, the mayor of Chicago, said at a later news conference on Sunday. | “It’s a terrible tragedy and frankly an incredible act of cowardice,” Lori Lightfoot, the mayor of Chicago, said at a later news conference on Sunday. |
Chief Waller said the victims had “various gunshot wounds to their bodies.” The youngest was 16, he said, and the oldest was about 48. He said four people were critically injured and the rest were in stable condition. | |
Chief Waller said surveillance footage captured part of the shooting, which took place on the 5700 block of South May Street. After gunshots were fired during a dispute inside the home, people began spilling outside, and two gunmen fired on the crowd, he said. | Chief Waller said surveillance footage captured part of the shooting, which took place on the 5700 block of South May Street. After gunshots were fired during a dispute inside the home, people began spilling outside, and two gunmen fired on the crowd, he said. |
“It looked like they were just shooting randomly at people as they exited the party,” he said. | “It looked like they were just shooting randomly at people as they exited the party,” he said. |
Stephanie D. Coleman, the alderman who represents the neighborhood, told reporters that she had gone to the scene after hearing about the shooting from constituents. | |
“I saw disappointment, I saw frustration, I saw, oh gosh, fear,” she said. “I saw lots of concerned neighbors getting to the bottom of it.” | “I saw disappointment, I saw frustration, I saw, oh gosh, fear,” she said. “I saw lots of concerned neighbors getting to the bottom of it.” |
Chicago has long struggled with gun violence, which has at times included shootings at the funerals of homicide victims. Much of the violence has been concentrated on the South and West Sides of the city. | |
This year in Chicago, in a single weekend in August, seven people were killed and 52 wounded by gunfire. In October, a 7-year-old girl dressed as a bumblebee was shot while trick-or-treating with her family on Halloween. | |
Shootings overall, however, are down in Chicago this year compared with last year. The Chicago Tribune, which tracks the number of shooting victims in the city, said 2,594 people had been shot as of Dec. 14, 248 fewer than in 2018. | |
Coincidentally, within an hour of the shooting in Chicago on Sunday, there were shootings in Minnesota and Maryland that also caused numerous casualties. | |
A 19-year-old man was killed and six others were wounded shortly after midnight at a restaurant and banquet hall in Spring Lake Park, a suburb north of Minneapolis, the county sheriff’s office said. In Baltimore, six people were wounded by gunfire shortly after 2 a.m. on a downtown street, the city police said. | |
In both cases, the authorities had no suspects in custody on Sunday and had released no information about possible motives. | |
Vanessa Swales contributed reporting. |