Gun Control in Chicago: 3 Dead Among 21 Wounded in Afternoon, Overnight Shootings

By Eowyn @DrEowyn

Chicago Tribune: Three people were killed and at least 18 wounded in shootings across Chicago between Friday afternoon and early Saturday morning, including two officers wounded in a Far South Side shootout.

The shootout was one of two officer-involved shootings overnight. The violence stretched from Rogers Park to as far south as 93rd Street and into the Austin neighborhood on the western edge of the city.

Two officers, a man in a car who started shooting at them and a woman that was in that car were wounded in an exchange of gunfire about 11:30 p.m. Friday in the 9300 block of South Wallace Street in the Brainerd neighborhood. The man shot by police was in surgery overnight but all three of the others are expected to survive.

About 3 a.m. Saturday in the 3600 block of West Shakespeare Avenue in the Logan Square neighborhood, police shot at a man they saw shoot someone else. The police officers missed and the man fled on foot. Information about the person he shot wasn’t immediately available from police.

Two shootings happened in the Bronzeville neighborhood about a block apart during the 13-hour stretch of shootings. Two people were shot in the 4600 block of South Ellis Avenue about 3:10 a.m. Saturday. A 20-year-old woman was shot in the face and a 21-year-old man suffered “multiple” gunshot wounds. They were taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, police said; their conditions weren’t available.

About 6 p.m. Friday in the 4600 block of South Drexel Boulevard, a 30-year-old man was shot in the right leg and taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in stable condition, police said. Details about the shooting weren’t immediately available. It’s not clear if this shooting is related to the one on Ellis.

Four other shootings happened in the Austin neighborhood, three within a few blocks of each other.

The first happened about 4:15 p.m. Friday in the 4900 block of West Augusta Avenue, where a 27-year-old man was shot in the upper left thigh. He was taken to West Suburban Medical Center but details about that weren’t immediately available.

Two others were shot in the 500 block of North Leclaire Avenue about 10:15 p.m. A 27-year-old woman was grazed in the shoulder and a 15-year-old boy was grazed in the back. The boy refused to be treated at the scene. He had been walking on the street when someone fired from inside a car. The woman was taken to West Suburban Medical Center and was stopped in a car when the shooting started and she was wounded, police said.

Twenty minutes later in the 1000 block of North Lamon Avenue, someone shot a 16-year-old boy in the back. He was taken to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County. He was walking with friends when someone on foot opened fire, police said. The 16-year-old  ran and was found by police near the intersection of Leclaire Avenue and Thomas Street, about two blocks away.

Near the corner of Cicero Avenue and Quincy Street in the Austin neighborhood about 3:30 a.m. Saturday morning, a 20-year-old man was grazed in the foot. He was standing outside when someone got out of a blue car and started shooting, wounding the man. He was taken to Loretto Hospital in good condition, police said. That happened about 3:30 a.m.

Four people were shot, one fatally, in the Washington Park neighborhood overnight.

An 18-year-old man was shot in the leg and a 19-year-old man was shot in the arm about 11:55 p.m. Friday in the 6100 block of South Wabash Avenue. The two were approached by three young men, one of whom opened fire, hitting the pair. They were both taken to Stroger hospital in stable condition, police said.

About 90 minutes later Saturday morning and five blocks north, in the 5600 block of South Wabash, someone shot two young men in an alley. A black car sped away and police gave chase but lost sight of the car on the Dan Ryan Expressway, though it was spotted again near North Avenue and Lake Shore Drive. Police responded to the block for a shots fired call and found the two men on the ground, unresponsive, and a large crowd nearby. An 18-year-old man died at the scene and a 20-year-old man was taken in critical condition to Stroger hospital, police said. The man who died was identified by the Cook County medical examiner’s office as Brian Weekly, of the 1400 block of West 79th Street.

At 10:42 p.m. in the Washington Heights neighborhood, a 22-year-old man was shot as he walked on the sidewalk in the 10100 block of South Aberdeen Street, said Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Michael Sullivan. The man told police he heard shots and felt pain in his ankle. He was taken to Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, where his condition had stabilized.

Just minutes later in the 100 block of N. Keeler Avenue in the West Garfield Park neighborhood about 10:45 p.m. Friday, someone shot a 22-year-old woman to death. She was shot in the torso and was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital, where police said she had been taken in critical condition. A spokesman for the Cook County medical examiner’s office identified her as Carnesha Fort, 22. She lived where she was shot, police said.

Earlier in the Morgan Park neighborhood, a 23-year-old man was shot in the leg in the 11200 block of South Marshfield Avenue about 2 p.m., Cooper said. The man was in good condition at an area hospital, but the exact hospital and the circumstances of the shooting were not immediately available.

An 18-year-old man and a 20-year-old man were shot in the 1900 block of West Howard Avenue in the Rogers Park neighborhood about 1:45 p.m. Friday. Alante Vallejo was pronounced dead about a half hour later at Presence St. Francis Hospital in Evanston and the 20-year-old was treated for a foot wound. Vallejo lived in the 200 block of Ridge Avenue in Evanston, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Chicago’s violence is out of control. Yet Mayor Emanuel’s solution is to require gun dealers to videotape the sales “to discourage traffickers and buyers who use false identification”. I’m sure that will solve the city’s crime problem…

DCG