At least two dozen bullet holes pierced the front of a single-family home in Park Manor, where a New Year's gathering was brought to an end by gunfire. Investigators said the shots came from outside the home and struck the victims after piercing the window.
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Police responded to the 7000 block of South Wabash Avenue at about 12:45 a.m. and found three victims inside a residence. A 53-year-old man, shot multiple times, was pronounced dead on the scene.
A 49-year-old woman, shot in her head, was transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition, police said. Another woman, 48, was shot in the arm and transported to the same hospital in fair condition.
A child, who appears to have also been inside the home at the time, was not hurt.
Area One detectives are investigating and no one is in custody. While no motive has yet been identified, investigators appear to be entertaining a couple of possibilities.
"It's still in the preliminaries with multiple shell casings on the outside and inside. Until the detectives bring it out and tell you there was somebody on the inside that got upset about something, some dispute, they left and came back or if an individual was on the outside and was targeting this family," said crisis responder Andrew Holmes.
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As police continue to track down the person or people responsible, the Park Manor neighborhood remained quiet on Monday morning after the overnight violence.
Some residents, most unwilling to speak publicly, said they believed the gunfire was just people shooting off their guns into the air, as often happens there on New Year's Eve.
"I was hearing all gunshots for the firing on New Year's, but then, the gunshots I heard sounded real close. So then, when I seen all the lights and stuff from the police, that's when I looked out the window," said Brandy, who lives in the area.
The deadly shooting marks the city's first homicide of the year. It comes after the Chicago Police Department reported a 13% drop in murders from 2022 to 2023.
"The numbers are still there, whether they say they're low or they're up. We still have a homicide. When they get to zero, and we don't have to call or visit nobody's family so they can enjoy life, then that's satisfactory," Holmes said.
Police are not saying whether any person or people of interest have been identified. Meanwhile, the medical examiner is withholding the victim's name pending family notification.
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