2 men shot to death in Uptown

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Two men were killed in the Uptown neighborhood Sunday morning, Chicago police said.

The men were shot in the 4600-block of North Broadway at about 4:25 a.m., police said. The Chicago Fire Department said both victims were inside a bar as a New Year's party was coming to a close.

A 38-year-old man was shot in the chest and leg and another man was shot multiple times in his right side, police said. Both were transported to Illinois Masonic Hospital, where they were pronounced dead.

Those two men are among the five people killed and 30 others hurt this holiday weekend. The early morning shooting came on the heels of Chicago's most violent year in nearly two decades.

Iyanze's remained closed Sunday after the West African restaurant and bar became the site of Chicago's first fatal shooting of 2017.

"You just can't have a good time," Jasmine Simpson, neighborhood resident, said. "You're trying to enjoy the ends of the year going into the New Year and you can't even feel safe about it."

Restaurant workers said it was around 4:30 a.m. as a New Year's Eve party on the second floor of the popular eatery ended and people started to leave that gunfire erupted.

"All of a sudden I heard like four, it sounded like cannons going off. Four shots and about three seconds later, I heard three more shots," Bobby Szydloski, neighborhood resident, said.

Patrons of restaurant have been left shocked by the violence.

"I'm very shocked because this is like a home restaurant. Africans, a lot of Africans come there to buy homemade food," Juliet Nyaken, neighborhood resident, said.

And as police still investigate what sparked the attack, some of those who live in the area and say the neighborhood appeared to be changing for the better, wonder when the violence will end.

"It's only January first like not even noon nearly and it's ridiculous and sad," Asia Flemming, neighborhood resident, said.

Police are investigating the circumstances of the shooting.