Historically, the Fourth of July weekend has been a hazardous one for Chicago residents exposed to gang warfare and gun violence. But if this past weekend is any predictor of things to come, the Windy City is about to experience a full-blown bloodbath over the holiday stretch.
Beginning Friday evening at 5 p.m. and ending at dawn Monday morning, five people were killed and 51 others were wounded in an outburst of gun violence occurring inside Chicago’s city limits. This represents the second time this year that at least 50 residents have been hurt in shooting attacks throughout the city, which has implemented some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation.
Metropolitan massacre
In the first 12 hours alone, two people were killed and 20 others wounded in violent shootings. As the weekend progressed, bodies were discovered in city parks, gangways and street corners.
The motives behind the numerous shootings varied by incident, from heated arguments that escalated into violence, drive-by events and apparently random attacks. The most recent fatal shooting occurred Saturday in West Lawn, according to the Chicago Sun Times, when an 18-year-old man was shot several times in an alleyway after getting into an argument with an older male. The young man was transported to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he later succumbed to his wounds, police said.
Just a few hours earlier, at 2:05 p.m., 32-year-old Andre Lyons was shot in the head and back after an unidentified man began firing down the 7600 block of South Aberdeen Street. First responders took Lyons to Christ Medical Center where he later died.
Just as the sun was coming up Saturday morning, authorities reported finding a man’s body in East Garfield Park. The neighborhood has been the scene of past homicides, and other murder victims have previously been discovered deserted in the same area.
At around 5:33 a.m., residents of the 3200 block of West Huron Street were shaken from their slumber when they heard gunshots echoing throughout the neighborhood. After investigating the area, they found Tavaris Trimble, 26, wounded and unresponsive in a gangway.
Jarise Baker, 17, was shot multiple times in his upper torso shortly after midnight on Saturday morning. A teenage girl was with him at the time, and she was shot in the arm. Baker died at Mt. Sinai Hospital the following day, and the young woman’s condition has since stabilized.
Another man was killed in the same neighborhood after he was shot at around 7:20 p.m. in the 3200 block of West Walnut Street, police said. Henry Daniels, 52, took bullets to the abdomen, leg and back before he was taken to Norwegian American Hospital, where he later died.
Mass murder
In other significant mass shootings, five people were wounded after a single gunman sprayed gunfire along the 2400 block of West Jackson Boulevard Saturday morning. A 49-year-old woman was struck in the chin, two men and a woman were hit in the leg, and the oldest victim was shot in the back.
“I was woken up by the police lights,” a man identified as Giovanni told the Sun Times. A bullet struck the side of his apartment, although he didn’t recall waking up to the sound of gunfire.
Throughout the city, 47 other people were wounded in incidents involving gun violence. During the prior weekend, four people were murdered and 16 others injured in attacks involving firearms.
Bracing for more
The city’s rising murder rate ahead of the Fourth of July weekend represents a frightening omen. Mayor Lori Lightfoot has ordered 1,500 Chicago Police Officers to work overtime patrolling parks and lakefronts throughout the urban sprawl.
“All around the city, there’s target areas that are always potentially flash points. So, we’ll be monitoring those areas real tightly. … One of the things we’re gonna do a bit differently — we have a lot more undercover officers out here this time than we did” over Memorial Day weekend, explained Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson.
Last year, ten people were killed and 58 wounded over an extended July 4 weekend that lasted seven days. The year before was even deadlier, with 14 killed and 87 shot in gun violence throughout the city.
Police sought to reduce violence during Memorial Day weekend this year by “flooding the zone” with more than 1,200 uniformed police officers. The city held over 100 events and youth programs to try to mitigate the violence, but the weekend was nevertheless tragically bloody, with 7 killed and 41 wounded.
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