48 people shot in Chiraq over Memorial Day weekend

Nine of those 48 people who were shot died, authorities said. More than a quarter were wounded in a single police district on the West Side.
By Sun-Times Wire




Police work the scene where five people were shot near an elementary school Sunday on the West Side.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times



Memorial Day weekend in Chicago has again lived up to its violent expectations.

By Monday night, 48 people had been shot in the city over the holiday weekend, as the Chicago Police Department canceled officers’ days off in anticipation of the historically violent unofficial start of summer.

About half of the shooting victims were wounded on the West Side, while the South Side saw about 13 victims. The downtown area, which has seen several high-profile attacks in May, had four shooting victims.

By Monday morning, shootings had outpaced last year’s Memorial Day weekend, when 37 people were shot, three of them fatally.


Nine of this weekend’s shooting victims had died by Monday night, authorities said. More than a quarter of victims were wounded in a single West Side police district —the 11th Harrison District —which had two mass shootings on Sunday:
In Lawndale, five people were wounded after gunmen opened fire on a crowd marking the anniversary of another teen’s killing. A 16-year-old girl was among the wounded in the shooting early Sunday morning in the 800 block of South Karlov Avenue. Shell casings and at least 97 evidence markers could be seen in the street outside Daniel Webster Elementary School.
Later Sunday, a man was killed and four others wounded, including a gunman, during a domestic incident in Humboldt Park. The shooting led to a standoff with a police SWAT team. A gunman, 23, was arrested over an hour later and treated for a gunshot wound, police said.

Other fatal shootings since 5 p.m. Friday:

Three men were wounded, one fatally, in a shooting Monday in Burnside on the South Side. They were near a sidewalk about 7:45 p.m. in the 1300 block of East 93rd Street when someone opened fire, Chicago police said. One man, 25, was shot in the chest and taken to Trinity Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said. Another man, 26, was also shot in the chest and taken to the same hospital in critical condition. The third man, 27, suffered a gunshot wound to his body and taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, police said. His condition was not immediately known.
A man was fatally shot Monday in Gresham on the South Side. About 5 p.m., the 27-year-old was in the 8600 block of South Aberdeen Street when he was shot multiple times, police said. He was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
Also Monday, a man was killed in a shooting in Englewood on the South Side. He was inside a residence about 2:50 p.m. in the 6900 block of South Green Street when someone opened fire, striking him in the face and abdomen, Chicago police said. The 31-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.
Jeremy Benson, 33, was shot and killed Sunday morning while driving in the West Garfield Park neighborhood, authorities said. He was shot while driving in the 4400 block of West Madison Street and crashed into a median, police said. He died at Mount Sinai Hospital.
A man was killed early Sunday in Englewood when gunfire erupted during a birthday party. The shooting sent hundreds of people running in the 5700 block of South Carpenter Street. A 24-year-old was shot and pronounced dead at the scene. Police placed a white cloth over the man, who was lying on a sidewalk near evidence markers. “They won’t even let me see his body,” the man’s mother said. “They could at least let me hold his hand.”



Chicago police investigate in the 5700 block of South Carpenter Street, where a man was shot to death early Sunday during a party on the Englewood neighborhood block on the South Side.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Hours earlier, two men killed each other during a shootout in Englewood, police said. The shootout happened at 5 p.m. Saturday in the 5500 block of South Bishop Street, police said. Both men were pronounced dead at the University of Chicago Medical Center. One of the men was identified as Derrick Washington, 29. The other man was 38.
Saturday afternoon, a man was killed in Chicago Lawn on the Southwest Side. He was shot in his head around 1:30 p.m. in the 2400 block of West 63rd Street, police said. He died at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. Police released no other details.

Ahead of the weekend, Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Friday defended changing the seldom-enforced citywide youth curfew to 10 p.m. from 11 p.m., and her decision to impose a 6 p.m. weekend curfew on unaccompanied minors in Millennium Park after a fatal shooting at The Bean.

On Saturday, faith leaders led a march for peace down Michigan Avenue. “There will be no silence till we end the violence,” a group of about 50 people chanted as they marched down the Mag Mile to Millennium Park.

Thirty-two people were shot last weekend in Chicago.