6 killed, 32 wounded in Chicago weekend violence

Diane Pathieu Image
Monday, May 21, 2018
CPD welcomes new recruits after violent weekend
The Chicago Police Department takes a step at getting bigger, with the addition of 100 new recruits after a violent weekend.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- It's been another violent weekend in Chicago, with at least 6 people killed and 32 others hurt in shootings across the city.

The most recent shooting happened Sunday night in the South Shore neighborhood. At around 11:15 p.m. a 21-year-old man was standing outside in the 7800-block of South Yates Boulevard when someone opened fire. The man was hit twice, in the leg and stomach and is in critical condition. Police said he is a gang member.

Also Sunday night, a man was shot while inside a van in the 3200-block of North Pulaski Road. Another car pulled up to the 18-year-old while he was in the passenger seat and opened fire, hitting the man in the arm. He is in good condition and police said that shooting is also gang related.

Sunday's sole fatality was a 16-year-old boy shot to death in the Lawndale neighborhood on the Southwest Side.

About noon, the 16-year-old boy was approached by someone in the 1800-block of South Komensky who fired shots and struck him in the face, police said. The boy was taken to Mounty Sinai Hospital, where he died. The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office didn't immediately provide details about the death. Area Central detectives were conducting a homicide investigation.

And on Saturday night a 13-year-old boy was walking in the 800-block of North Latrobe Avenue when two people came out of a gangway and fired shots, shooting the teenager in the shoulder. He was taken to the hospital and his condition has stabilized.

Police say they are investigating the weekend shootings.

The violent weekend comes as Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson welcomed the addition of 100 new recruits to the police department.

The new recruits are part of a plan to grow CPD by 1,000 officers. The mayor and superintendent addressed the recruits Monday morning.

"I'd like to see a perfect world, zero shootings and zero murders. But, we want to get it down to, I won't say acceptable, but better than it is now," Johnson said.

"Not only are we adding 100 new recruits, 110 detectives and at the end of the week, 130 are graduating and they'll be hitting the streets immediately. I think it's a mistake just to think about the police officers. I'm proud that we're adding 1,000 new officers on top of the 12,500. But I'm also equally proud of the record 32,000 kids in summer jobs this summer," Emanuel said.

Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report