12 killed, more than 50 injured in weekend violence

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Twelve people were killed and more than 50, including a 3-year-old boy, were wounded in shootings across the city between Friday evening and early Monday, according to Chicago police.

On Monday, city leaders participated in a public forum on the homicide crisis in the city.

Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson was joined by state's attorney candidate Kim Fox, Hadiya Pendelton's mother and Father Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Church. All spoke about the complexity of the issue. Pfleger took a swipe at Donald trump saying race must be talked about, while Johnson focused on guns.

A 22-year-man was killed with an assault rifle in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. He was just one of many shooting victims over the weekend.

He said nothing will change until gun offenders are held accountable.

"If we find these guys in possession of illegal handguns or if they've used that illegal gun in commission of a crime, they should be off the street right then. So that's what I'm asking our judicial partners and our state legislators to help us with," Johnson said.

Johnson said until state laws change, his officers will continue to make the arrests and confiscate illegal guns. He says more illegal guns are removed from the streets of Chicago than New York and Los Angeles combined.

"CPD since January first of this year has removed one illegal gun per hour, every day this year," he said.

Johnson spoke on a city club panel about Chicago's homicide crisis and said nothing will change until state laws change. He called for stiffer gun penalties.

"Until we get the accountability gap corrected, we are going to continue to see this type of violence. The Chicago Police Department is doing their part by arresting people with guns, where we're losing it is holding those repeat gun offenders accountable," Johnson said.

Johnson also is calling on judges to stop giving gun offenders a "slap on wrist" when it comes to gun sentences.

Johnson was joined by Pfleger, who said the only way to solve the violence problem is to address the roots causes, which he says include race and segregation.

"If Mike Plfeger is a Gangster Disciple says tomorrow I'm going to turn my life around where does he go? Call 911? Call 311? What are the options and the opportunities?" he said.

He also blames Donald trump for dividing the country even further.

"Racism and segregation are on the rise in America and we better have the courage to deal with it or we're going to continue to say, "Black communities on the west and south side you are disposable and we don't give a damn about you,'" Father Pfleger said.

Pfleger says a Trump America is a dangerous America. ABC7 reached out to the Trump campaign for a response but has not heard back.

Meantime, Johnson says he will continue to concentrate his efforts on lobbying state lawmakers to enact tougher laws for gun penalties.

While Archbishop Blase Cupich did not serve on Monday's panel, he released a statement about the weekend violence. He said doing nothing is no longer an option.

He called on elected officials to start doing something about the guns.

The most recent homicide happened about 1:30 a.m. Monday in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood on the South Side. Officers responding to a call of a person shot in the 7300 block of South University found the 22-year-old man lying in the gangway, according to Chicago Police.He was shot in the head and back and taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Less than an hour earlier, a 29-year-old man was shot in the lower back and chest in Englewood's 1500 block of West 69th Street and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he later died, police said.

Late Sunday, a 21-year-old man was was in a vehicle in the 600 block of South Lake Shore Drive when shots rang out and he was struck in the lower back, police said. He was driven to the first block of East 35th Street, where he was abandoned, police said. Officers responding to that block about 10:40 p.m. found him lying on the ground and he was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he later died, according to police.

The Cook County medical examiner's office had not confirmed those fatalities as of Monday morning.

Earlier Sunday evening, another 21-year-old man died of a gunshot wound to the abdomen after showing up at St. Bernard Hospital at 326 W. 64th St. about 6:50 p.m., according to police, who did not known when or where the shooting occurred. The medical examiner's office has not released the man's name.

About 1:30 p.m., someone used a high-powered assault rifle to kill 22-year-old Salvador Saurez outside a Catholic church in the Back of the Yards neighborhood during Sunday Mass, authorities said. He was walking eastbound on 46th Street outside Holy Cross Church near Hermitage Avenue when a light-colored Saturn drove by and someone inside opened fire. Saurez, who lived in the 4500 block of South Hermitage, suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene at 3:05 p.m., police and the medical examiner's office said.

Saturday night in Auburn Gresham, a 33-year-old man was in a vehicle going south in the 7600 block of South Eggleston when another vehicle pulled alongside and someone inside it opened fire about 8:20 p.m., police said. The man was shot repeatedly in the torso and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead, police said. Authorities have not released his name.

An apparent murder-suicide left a 73-year-old man and 65-year-old woman dead Saturday morning in Hyde Park. Officers called for a well-being check about 9:45 a.m. at a home in the 1400 block of East 54th Street found them dead at the scene with gunshot wounds to the head, with the man's wound self-inflicted, according to police. Their names have not been released.

About 5:30 a.m., officers responding to a call of shots fired found 23-year-old Eric Smith dead with multiple gunshot wounds in the 4800 block of West Monroe, according to police and the medical examiner's office. Smith lived nearby in the 4800 block of West Adams, authorities said.

Two hours earlier, a shooting outside a University Village party left a 24-year-old man dead and two security guards wounded. Gunfire erupted about 3:40 a.m. when the guards pulled up to the party at a housing complex in the 1300 block of West Hastings, police said. A 24-year-old man whose name has not been released was shot in the back and pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Both guards - a 29-year-old man shot in the thighs and arm and a 30-year-old man shot in the hand - were taken to Stroger Hospital, where their conditions stabilized, police said.

About 1:30 a.m. in West Garfield Park, someone shot 18-year-old Latrell McMahon in the abdomen and a 19-year-old man in the leg in the first block of South Springfield, authorities said. McMahon, who lived in the 1800 block of South Fairfield, was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:56 a.m. The older man was taken in good condition to Mount Sinai Hospital.

Late Friday in North Lawndale, 22-year-old Charles Wiley was shot in the neck about 10:30 p.m. in the 2200 block of South Kirkland, authorities said. Wiley, who lived in the 4200 block of West Cullerton, was taken to Mount Sinai, where he died at 11:04 p.m.

A 16-year-old boy was the victim of the weekend's first fatal shooting, which happened just after 9 p.m. Friday in West Englewood. Melvin Cook was riding in a vehicle in the alley of the 6500 block of South Hamilton when two gunmen walked up and fired into the car, striking Cook in the head, authorities said. He lived in the 5700 block of South Calumet.

A 3-year-old boy was critically wounded in a Sunday evening shooting in Woodlawn on the South Side. He was in a vehicle in the 6100 block of South Kimbark when another vehicle pulled up and someone inside opened fire, striking the boy in the right shoulder, police said. The driver took him to the University of Chicago Medical Center and he was transferred in critical condition to Comer Children's Hospital.

About 50 more people were shot across Chicago between 5:15 p.m. Friday and 4 a.m. Monday.

Additionally, a Chicago police officer shot and seriously wounded a man brandishing a gun at the Puerto Rican Festival in the Humboldt Park neighborhood Sunday night on the West Side.

Chicago Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.