25 shot in multiple-victim shootings over 2.5 hours in Chicago: 'If they shoot you, they don’t even run'



Hannah Leone, Morgan Greene and William LeeContact ReporterChicago Tribune


Four people were shot in the 1600 block of South Avers in Lawndale. Eight in the 1300 block of West 76th Street in Gresham. Six in Lawndale again. Four more in West Humboldt Park. Three others in West Garfield Park.
At least 41 people were shot in Chicago from 11 a.m. Saturday through Sunday morning, four fatally. Three of those deaths happened since about midnight in a period when 35 people were shot. During one 2½-hour period alone, 25 people were shot — two fatally — in five multiple-injury shootings, authorities said.
Another fatality happened after sunrise, when four more were shot in South Austin.
Resources at local hospitals were taxed as victims and their families poured in. Access to Stroger Hospital was tightened. At one point, more than 200 people had converged on the hospital. Mount Sinai Hospital had to stop accepting new emergency cases for a while.
Sixteen of those shot were teenagers. Twelve were 17 or younger. In the shooting in Gresham, seven of the victims were 21 or younger.
At 16th Street and Avers, where evidence of the annual block party was scattered on the ground, lime green T-shirts dotted the groups of people still gathered on sidewalks and in streets after a shooting there around midnight. Crime scene tape crossed 16th Street east of Springfield Avenue and stretched far down the block past Penn Elementary School on the south side of 16th.
One man stood by himself, leaning his back against a chain-link fence on the north side of 16th Street, watching police work the large crime scene to his east. He estimated more than 1,000 people had been there. He talked freely but did not want to be named. He’s lived in the neighborhood his whole life.
“I know the rules,” he said.
The man had been on his way out when he heard the gunshots, he said. He commented on the brazenness of shootings he’s grown accustomed to.
“If they shoot you, they don’t even run,” he said. “They just walk away, they ain’t trying to run.”


Calls of shots fired continued to blare on the scanners for the zone, even with all the police in the area on some of the calls. While officers were still on the scene at Avers, two gunmen shot at a group a little more than half a mile away, in the 1300 block of South Millard Avenue.
Blood thickened on the sidewalk in front of the main door to a large brick apartment building on the north side of Douglas Boulevard between Millard and Lawndale Avenue and dotted the sidewalk farther north on Millard. Dozens of people remained outside, some sitting on the steps in front of Stone Temple Baptist Church on the northwest corner of Millard and Douglas.
One young man in a backward Bulls cap sat down on the curb away from everyone else, put his head in his hands and cried.
Others congregated at Mount Sinai Hospital, leaning against cars and embracing on the sidewalk. Yellow crime scene tape encircled two cars outside the emergency room, a white sedan and a black one that had its front crumpled and windshield cracked.
Mount Sinai’s emergency department for a few hours was on bypass and accepting no new emergencies “just because of the sheer amount of shootings,” said spokesman Dan Regan.
“We went off of bypass around 8:30 this morning, so we are back to normal operations in terms of accepting patients,” Regan said.
“Our folks are unfortunately well-versed in dealing with these kinds of situations,” he said.
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On Sunday morning, dozens of people gathered outside Stroger Hospital, clustered in small groups in the parking lot.
Only immediate family members of victims were allowed inside, according to police. Families walked up to the entrance, guarded by police.
Octavia White said she went to Stroger to see her daughter, who she said was one of the victims of a shooting in the 4700 block of West Gladys Avenue in West Garfield Park.
“I thank God it wasn’t her time,” White said as she walked to the bus stop. “I’ll be back here when she wakes up.”
As the sun beat down during daytime Sunday, groups of family and friends remained stationed outside the hospital.
Ald. Walter Burnett, 27th, stopped by to speak with the families. Burnett said the shootings affect whole families and entire communities, as evidenced by the crowd outside Stroger.
“You have young kids crying, older people crying, it’s just so heartbreaking,” Burnett said. “So we try to give them some comfort, pray for them, and also at the same time try to encourage the young adult men not to try to get revenge.”
Burnett said it’s up to the neighborhoods to stop the violence. He talked about growing up in the former Cabrini-Green housing project.
“It was the mothers, it was the preachers, it was people in the neighborhood who stopped the wars in Cabrini Green,” he said. “It wasn’t the police.”
Activist Eric Russell, an organizer of the anti-violence protest Thursday that shut down Lake Shore Drive, also spoke outside of the hospital.
“This is the reason why we march,” he said.
Russell went on to harshly criticize Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel for not doing enough to address gun violence.
“Our people are hurting over there,” said Russell. “Our people are left to languish in a vicious cycle of gun violence.”
Among the shootings since 11 a.m. Saturday through about 6 a.m. Sunday, police have released the following information:
Sunday
In the most-recent shooting, two men and two women were struck by gunfire in the first block of North LeClaire Avenue in the South Austin neighborhood about 6:50 a.m., when a gunman exited the mouth of an alley and opened fire on the group.
One victim, a 32-year-old man, suffered four wounds, including two to the left side of his neck, and was taken to Stroger, where he was pronounced dead, according to a police spokeswoman.
A 30-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to the back of the head and was taken to Stroger in critical condition.
A 27-year-old woman was taken to Stroger for gunshot wounds to her left arm and wrist, while a 21-year-old woman was treated and released from West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park for a graze wound.
No arrests had been made in the case, police said.
Just before 5:50 a.m. in West Pullman, a 33-year-old man was shot once in each of his legs in the 12100 block of South Bishop Street by someone last seen northbound on Bishop in a small silver Ford car, police said. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in fair condition.
Around 2:50 a.m. in West Garfield Park, a 14-year-old boy was shot in the left leg in the 200 block of South Pulaski Road. He was taken to Stroger Hospital in good condition, police said.

Around 2:35 a.m. Sunday in Lawndale, two shooters approached a group standing on the sidewalk in the 1300 block of South Millard Avenue and opened fire, hitting six people. A 17-year-old girl shot in the face was pronounced dead on scene. A 14-year-old boy shot in his left leg was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital and stabilized, as was an 11-year-old boy also shot in the left leg. A 21-year-old woman shot in the right arm and back was also taken to Sinai, where she was in critical condition. A 17-year-old boy shot in the right leg was taken to Rush University Medical Centerand was stabilized. A 17-year-old girl shot in the right arm was taken to Stroger and stabilized.
About 10 minutes earlier in West Garfield Park, three women standing on a front porch were wounded when two groups of males started shooting at each other about 2:25 a.m. in the 4700 block of West Gladys Avenue, police said. A 29-year-old woman shot in the back and 28-year-old woman shot in the left arm were taken to Stroger and stabilized. A 41-year-old woman shot in the right thigh was stabilized at Loretto Hospital.


Around 1:30 a.m. in Little Village, a 26-year-old man standing on the sidewalk in the 3200 block of South Keeler Avenue was hit in the right leg when someone in a white sedan fires shots, police said. He got himself to University of Illinois Chicago Medical Center and was stable.
Shortly before 1:05 a.m. in Back of the Yards, a 26-year-old man was killed in a shooting in the 4800 block of South Paulina Street. He was walking on the sidewalk with another person when someone in a white Jeep shot him in the abdomen and right ankle, police said. He was taken to Mount Sinai and later pronounced dead. The Jeep was found unoccupied and having been set on fire in the 4300 block of Paulina, police said.
Around 12:50 a.m. in West Humboldt Park, four people were injured in a drive-by shootout the 900 block of North Karlov Avenue. Two people fired shots from inside a black Cadillac, and three of the people hit shot back, causing the car to crash. The two in the car ran from the scene. A 43-year-old man walking down the street was shot in the thigh during the crossfire, police said. The other three people shot were a 30-year-old man hit in the right ankle and left calf; a 43-year-old man shot in the thigh; and a 29-year-old man grazed in the chest. All were taken to Stroger in good condition.
Just after midnight in Lawndale, four people were shot at a block party in the 1600 block of South Avers. Two people got out of a white Chevrolet Impala, fired into the crowd and left, police said. A 17-year-old girl grazed in the arm and knee, a 13-year-old boy shot twice in the right arm and a 16-year-old boy shot in the buttocks were stabilized at Mount Sinai. A 25-year-old man shot in the left leg was stabilized at Stroger.
Just before 12:40 a.m. in the Gresham neighborhood, eight people were shot in the 1300 block of West 76th Street. They were among a group standing in the courtyard of an apartment building when several others walked up and shot into the group, police said.
A 17-year-old girl shot in the knee was stabilized at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park. Another 17-year-old girl shot in the left leg was stabilized at Christ. An 18-year-old man shot in the buttocks was stabilized at University of Chicago Medical Center. A 19-year-old woman shot in the left hand was stabilized at Holy Cross Hospital. A 14-year-old girl shot in the left hand was also stabilized. A 21-year-old woman shot in the left leg was stabilized at University of Chicago. A 35-year-old man grazed in the head was stable at Holy Cross. A 19-year-old man shot in the left leg was taken to St. Bernard Hospital and stabilized.
Shortly after 12:20 a.m. in Lawndale, an 18-year-old man was shot multiple times in the 4100 block of West Cullerton Avenue. Witnesses were not cooperative, and the man was taken to Stroger under guard, police said.
Around 12:05 a.m. in Logan Square, a 20-year-old woman was shot in the abdomen while driving north in the 3700 block of West Altgeld Street. Someone in a red SUV shot her, police said. She was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in serious condition.
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Saturday
Shortly before 5:30 p.m. in the Burnside neighborhood, a 22-year-old man was shot in the left side of his forehead while on his bicycle in the 500 block of East 92nd Street. A dark sedan drove up alongside him and two people fired shots, then left the area, police said. The man was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center in good condition.
At 3:26 p.m., a 26-year-old man was shot in the left foot in the East Garfield Park neighborhood in the 3900 block of Madison Street. He was taken in good condition to Mount Sinai Hospital, police said.
About 1:35 p.m., a 25-year-old was shot in the left forearm and left thigh in the 600 block of East 76th Street in the Chatham neighborhood. He was taken the University of Chicago Medical Center, where his condition was stabilized, police said.
Shortly before noon, two workers, one in his 50s and another in his 40s, were in the 6800 block of Wood Street when two people began shooting at each other from across the street. Both victims were struck in the crossfire, police said.
The older man was shot in the abdomen and taken to University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The younger man went to the same hospital, but there was no information about the severity of his wounds.
Police did not specify what kind of work the men were doing at the time of the shooting.
About an hour earlier, a 38-year-old man was shot in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood, Chicago police said.
That attack happened around 11 a.m. in the 5900 block of South Maplewood Avenue. The man suffered gunshot wounds to his lower body, police said.
He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, but no information was available about his condition or the circumstance leading up to the shooting.
Check back for updates.

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