4 injured, 1 killed, in Englewood shooting; dozens injured in weekend violence, Chicago police say
Overall, CPD, officials pleased with weekend violence reduction efforts
CHICAGO (WLS) -- A man beaten and critically injured and five others were shot, one fatally, after a shooting at a Fourth of July gathering in the Englewood neighborhood Wednesday morning, Chicago police said.
A group had gathered at about 4:47 a.m. in the 5600-block of South Ada Street when someone opened fire, police said.
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A 35-year-old man was shot in the chest and transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
A 21-year-old man was battered in the head with a baseball bat and transported to Stroger Hospital, where he remains critical, police said.
Chicago police initially said a man was beaten death, but later said he remains in critical condition.
A 23-year-old man was shot in the abdomen and transported to the University of Chicago in critical condition.
A 21-year-old woman was shot in the thigh and transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center in stable condition and a 29-year-old man was shot in the left foot and leg and transported to Advocate Christ Hospital in stable condition.
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A witness told ABC7 Chicago most of the people were just having a good time celebrating the Fourth of July when a flurry of gunshots rang out.
"It looks like a parade was on the block. And it wasn't a parade; it was a large party," the witness said.
Witnesses said shots were fired after multiple fights in the streets broke out.
"Well, we are still investigating it to see if it was something internal or to see if someone from outside shot into the crowd," CPD interim Superintendent Fred Waller said. "When we have over 100 rounds of spent cartridges out, we know that that didn't just come from one side."
A man who attended the party said he left around 2 a.m.
"All hell broke loose," he said. "Just a large crowd of people, they were outrageous; some of them were, but most of them were having fun, enjoying themselves."
Scene video shows a massive police response and crowds of people fighting in the street.
Neighbors said they heard at least a hundred gunshots between 4:30 and 5 a.m. One even sent pictures showing a bullet hole in their living room window.
"To come home and see everything that's going on, yea, and live in a neighborhood where you rarely hear things like this go on," a neighbor said.
Hours after the shooting, scraps from fireworks littered the street, along with shell casings, empty liquor bottles and unanswered questions about what led to the July Fourth party gone wrong.
No one is in custody, and Area Three detectives are investigating.
Police had received at least one complaint call about the party, which lasted through the night.
"We are looking back as far as hindsight, something more should have been done, or are still looking at, where there are calls for service, what exactly happened up until the point that they were shooting," Waller said.
Chicago saw 20 people shot on the Fourth of July. Two people were killed.
Chicago police said throughout the entire holiday weekend, 57 were shot, eight fatally. That's nearly half of what the city saw last Fourth of July weekend.
With the Fourth of July weekend historically being one of the most violent in Chicago, police said Wednesday at Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications they were relatively pleased by the numbers. Homicides were down by 50% and shootings were down by 37%.
Chicago officials also commented on all of the festivities over the weekend, including NASCAR.
They said the heavy rain on Sunday was perhaps a factor in keeping the shootings down.
"Weather always does play a part in that, but I attribute a lot of it to the hard work at the men and women of the Chicago Police Department and all the agencies did this weekend," Waller said. "Of course, it was very warm, a lot of people, a lot of gatherings, a lot of people were out, and that's almost a recipe for what we're seeing across the country, not just here in Chicago."
He also said police will not tolerate violence, and he noted that efforts in West Roseland to break up a large teen gathering resulted in six guns being recovered, but no violence.
But police did still respond to 45 different shooting scenes.
"We will not tolerate this violence in our neighborhoods, and we are doing everything we can (to) reduce or prevent this trauma within our communities," Waller said. "Still feel that we did a great job. Overall, you can't say that to the people who lost their lives that we did a great job, but the effort was there."
Last year over the holiday weekend, 91 people were shot and 19 killed.
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