West Garfield Park shooting leaves 5 hurt; 4th Chicago mass shooting in just over 1 week
Mayor Lightfoot joins fellow mayors in signing letter to Biden Administration, calling for stricter gun laws
CHICAGO (WLS) -- There has been another mass shooting in Chicago.
The latest gunfire broke out about 9:20 p.m. Tuesday in the 3800-block of West Monroe Street in West Garfield Park, leaving five people hurt.
Earlier Tuesday, there was a deadly mass shooting in the 6200-block of South Morgan Street.
There have now been four mass shootings in Chicago in a little over a week -- that means four shootings in which there have been at least four gunshot victims. There were two in less than 24 hours.
RELATED: 8 shot, 4 killed in Englewood shooting, Chicago police say; family, officials ID victims
Police still are investigating the incident in the 3800-block of West Monroe.
The group was outside in the 3800-block of West Monroe Street, when they were shot at, possibly by multiple people, according to Chicago police.
A 29-year-old woman was struck in the back, a 39-year-old man was shot in the shoulder and leg, and a 40-year-old man was struck in the shoulder, police said. They were all taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where they are all in good condition.
A 38-year-old man and a 33-year-old man were both shot in the legs and taken to Stroger Hospital, where the older man is in critical condition and the younger man is in good condition, police said.
No arrests have been made. Area Four detectives are investigating.
"Bullets have no names, and fortunately no one died in the the incident in West Garfield, but easily could have been five homicides," said Alderman Jason Ervin, with the 28th Ward.
But it is the mass shooting earlier in the day in Englewood that is still reverberating through the city. Eight people were shot, four killed, including three women inside a home. Some of the victims were shot in the back of the head.
"For them to just take her, take their momma away. That really hurts me," one victim's friend said.
The shooting prompted Mayor Lori Lightfoot to say Chicago has joined a club of cities to which no one wants to belong -- cities with mass shootings. She has now joined other mayors from around the country, signing a letter to the Biden Administration, calling for the federal government to take action and tighten gun laws.
"In every case, and this is case after case after case where we have conflict, and you put a gun in someone's hand, you increase, particularly an illegal gun, you increase the opportunity for violent crime," CPD Superintendent David Brown said during a press conference Tuesday.
Nearly 300 of the 390 homicides in Cook County so far this year have been in Chicago.
The mayor, however, insists Chicago is safe to visit, even as residents and business owners worry about the impact the increasing violence is having on the city.
Ervin said stricter gun laws are important, but they are just part of the solution that includes increased community investment and stricter penalties.
"We have to open our courts back up so that prosecutions can take place. We have to open up places where folks can have consequences for these actions because right now people think this is a video game, and they get to press reset and start all over," Ervin said.
Sun-Times Media contributed to this report.
