At least 21 people shot, 8 fatally, over the weekend, police say; 5 shooting victims were under 18
At least 21 people have been shot, eight fatally, in Chicago since Friday evening, according to police. Reports of weekend violence also include a deadly beating on the West Side and a stabbing on a CTA platform in the Loop.
The weekend’s violence follows a particularly deadly stretch on the previous weekend when 45 people were shot, at least seven fatally, according to preliminary statistics from the Chicago Police Department and information from the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Five of the people shot this weekend were between 16 and 17 years old, according to police reports. Two of those died from their wounds. The shootings come days after a gunman fired a semi-automatic rifle toward a Near West Side housing complex, killing 7-year-old Jai’Mani Amir Rivera on Tuesday. In that case, Raysean Comer, 16, was charged as an adult with first-degree murder.
A ride-share driver and a food delivery driver were also wounded by gunfire. In recent years, service drivers in the Chicago area have joined a national movement through protests and strikes to demand safety measures alongside better wages and working conditions from their employers. In April, Uber rolled out a verification feature for riders in a dozen cities, including Chicago, to ensure the safety of their drivers.
On Friday evening, a student from Amundsen High School was killed in a drive-by shooting in Lincoln Square. Two other 16-year-old boys were injured, one in the shoulder and another in the knee. They were targeted from a dark SUV, according to a witness, as they were getting into a car on the 5600 block of North Rockwell Street just before 7 p.m.
The medical examiner’s office identified the high schooler who was fatally shot as 16-year-old Benicio Gomez and ruled his death a homicide. Police said Saturday that no one was in custody and that area detectives were investigating the attack.
Another 16-year-old boy was fatally shot multiple times in his chest and legs Saturday evening after a verbal altercation with an unknown person at Ogden Park in Englewood, according to police. He was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The medical examiner’s office identified the boy as Marvel J. White and ruled his death a homicide Sunday. There were no suspects in custody Saturday as detectives began their investigation.
On Sunday morning, police found two adult men unresponsive with multiple gunshot wounds in a Jeep Cherokee on the 12300 block of South Halsted Street in the West Pullman neighborhood. They were pronounced dead on the scene at approximately 8:37 a.m. Detectives are investigating.
At approximately 2:30 a.m. Saturday, police found a 34-year-old man who had several gunshot wounds in the 400 block of West Division Street near an Old Town grocery store. The man was transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital and was pronounced dead. The medical examiner’s office ruled his death a homicide. His identity hadn’t been released as of Sunday afternoon.
On Saturday at 10:40 a.m., a 44-year-old man was fatally shot multiple times in the 2900 block of South State Street near the Chicago Housing Authority’s Dearborn Homes public housing project on the South Side. He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at noon. The medical examiner’s office ruled his death a homicide but had not released his identity as of Sunday afternoon. Police said detectives are investigating and no one was in custody Sunday.
In the afternoon Saturday, officers responded to a gunshot detection technology alert and found a 49-year-old man in the 4300 block of West 25th Street in Little Village who had been shot multiple times. He was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital at 3:59 p.m. and identified by the medical examiner’s office as Juan L. Rodriguez.
After being involved in a fight Friday night, a 46-year-old man died of his injuries at 11:47 p.m. The medical examiner’s office ruled his cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head from an assault and ruled it a homicide. His identity hadn’t been released as of Sunday afternoon. A 39-year-old woman who was with him suffered bruising to her face but was in good condition. Police say two unidentified men had approached the man and woman, who were fighting in the 5400 block of West Congress Parkway in the Austin neighborhood, and beat the man before fleeing the scene. Detectives hadn’t made any arrests as of Sunday.
These are some of the other acts of violence that occurred this weekend:
In an attempted armed robbery, a food delivery man was shot in the ankle Friday night when he refused to hand over any money. He drove himself from the Austin neighborhood to West Suburban Hospital in Oak Park and was last listed in fair condition. Detectives are still investigating.
On a CTA platform in the 100 block of North Wabash Avenue, a man suffered numerous lacerations when another man cut him during a fight around 1:30 a.m. Saturday. The wounded man was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in good condition. No arrests have been made.
Shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday, police found a 17-year-old boy with a gunshot wound to his leg in the 1100 block of North Keeler Avenue. He told the responding officers he had been shot while in the courtyard of a Humboldt Park apartment complex. The teenager was transported to Stroger Hospital in good condition. No arrests had been made as of Sunday afternoon as detectives continued investigating.
A 30-year-old ride-share driver was shot in the back of the neck by a passenger in the Burnside neighborhood early Sunday, according to police. His vehicle then crashed into another unoccupied parked vehicle in the 900 block of East 91st Street. The driver was transported to University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition. Police are investigating and no arrests have been made.