GUN CONTROL CHICAGO STYLE

63 shot over weekend in Chicago; only long July 4th weekend more violent this year

by Elyssa Cherney and Elvia Malagon

Chicago Tribune
August 21, 2017

More people were shot in Chicago over the weekend than on any other this year, except for the Fourth of July weekend that stretched four days, according to police and data kept by the Chicago Tribune.

At least 63 people were shot in the city, and eight of them were killed, police said. More than half of them were wounded over 13 hours from Saturday to early Sunday. At least 16 more people were shot through the day Sunday, including three on the same street in South Austin.

The level of violence exceeded the 52 shot on the three-day Memorial Day but fell short of the 102 hit by gunfire over the long Fourth of July weekend, according to Tribune data. Still, fewer people have been shot in Chicago this year than at this time last year: 2,435 compared to 2,710.

There have been at least 451 homicides this year, 16 fewer than this time last year, Tribune data show.

This weekend's shootings occurred across the city, from Rogers Park on the Far North Side, where a 32-year-old man was killed early Sunday, to West Pullman on the Far South Side, where seven people were shot outside a banquet hall a few hours later the same day.

The wounded included a 14-year-old boy grazed in the chest and left knee while he walking with his sister and a friend just before 9:30 p.m. Friday in Pilsen.

An officer-involved shooting Saturday night left 33-year-old man with graze wounds to the head. Police said he confronted police with a gun and an officer fired.

There were three shootings Sunday just blocks apart on the same West Side street in the South Austin neighborhood. Four people were wounded in the 5400 and 5600 blocks of West Madison Street, police said.

The night before, two triple shootings were reported in South Austin within 20 minutes.