5 dead, at least 16 wounded in weekend shootings

August 25, 2012 (CHICAGO)

The latest happened Saturday afternoon in the Grand Crossing neighborhood.

It's a scene all too familiar as police investigate another fatal shooting that left a recently paroled 20-year-old Christopher Spraggins dead.

"He was just trying to get his life together and he'd been hanging around here for a couple of days with neighborhood people, and was just at the wrong place at the wrong time," said family friend Tina Wilson.

Two others were wounded in the Saturday afternoon attack witnesses say began after two teens began arguing.

"These perpetrators came up and told them to clear the streets, that they were going to start shooting. After they said that, gunfire erupted and you had three people dead," said community activist Andrew Holmes.

And is now a part of the gun violence in Chicago that killed at least four others and left more than a dozen wounded.

The shootings happened on the city's South Side between late Friday afternoon and early Saturday morning.

Seventeen-year-old Lucian Dreux was killed when someone opened fire near 79th and Drexel.

"Everybody loved him," said Dreux's sister Lakeshia McCaskill. "If you could have seen how many people were out here last night, just showing their love for him, you'd have seen how loved."

Earlier Saturday, a-23-year old man was shot dead during a robbery attempt as he sat in a car eating with his girlfriend.

The attacks represent the violence the community and others hope to stop with activities like the Peace Fest and Back-to-School Rally.

"We're got children shot almost every day, so that's why this kind of event is important," said 3rd Ward Alderman Pat Dowdle.

"Most of our violence in gang related," said Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy. "Much of it is narcotics game related, so that they argue over turf and get into these violent disputes with each other and that's how people get hurt."

Copyright © 2024 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.