Nine people were killed and 40 others were injured in citywide violence over the holiday weekend, making it the least violent Fourth of July weekend in at least six years.
The weekend runs from 5 p.m. Thursday to 5 a.m. Monday, meaning late Wednesday’s mass shooting — which left four dead and 14 others injured — was not counted in the total.
At a summer safety press conference Thursday, Deputy Mayor Garien Gatewood said the city had extended hours of street outreach workers to 3 a.m. and CPD Supt. Larry Snelling said police planned to target areas where large groups gather, such as beaches, to help ensure a safer weekend which was enough to keep violence in the city at bay.
“It’s important that Chicagoans know it is our responsibility to keep them safe, and the only way we do that is by working together to keep each other safe,” Gatewood said at the Thursday press conference.
By the end of the weekend last year, 19 people had been killed and 86 others wounded. The 68 people injured and 12 killed over the first two days of the July 4th weekend in 2024 surpassed the numbers for the entire 2023 holiday weekend, which stretched over four days, when 11 people were killed and 62 wounded.
Violence peaked in 2021 when more than 100 people were shot and 19 were killed in shootings across the city through the mid-summer holiday weekend.
The latest holiday weekend murder came when a 56-year-old man was killed in a fight with another man on a platform at the CTA Clark/Lake station Saturday night, Chicago police said.
The two men were fighting on the platform about 10:30 p.m. in the 100 block of West Lake Street when one of them, 56-year-old Robert Harper, suffered an injury to his head. Chicago firefighters found Harper unresponsive and took him to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
One person was in custody after a man was shot and killed Saturday morning on the Near North Side, police said.
The 46-year-old victim was inside a car about 9:45 a.m. in the 800 block of North Cambridge Avenue when someone fired shots, striking the man in the back, police said.
He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Meeyah Smith, 16, and a 35-year-old man were in the 1200 block of East 83rd Street about 11 p.m. Saturday when someone walked up to them and fired shots, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Smith was shot in her throat and was pronounced dead at Jackson Park Hospital; the man was shot in the thigh and listed in good condition, police said.
The Cook County Crime Stoppers have offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
“This case, like all others, is sad and senseless,” said Paul Rutherford, Chairman of Cook County Crime Stoppers. “Our hearts go out to the family of Meeyah Smith. We are fully committed to bringing those responsible to justice and will assist Chicago Police Detectives in using every available resource to ensure a thorough investigation.”
A man died after he was shot in the 2600 block of South Central Park Avenue around 10:10 p.m. Saturday, police said.
He went to Mount Sinai Hospital initially in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the abdomen and was later pronounced dead, officials said.
A man was found shot to death early Saturday in the Austin neighborhood.
Officers found the man, 30, about 5 a.m. inside a residence in the 1000 block of North Lavergne Avenue with a gunshot wound to the head, police said.
He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Officers responding to a call of a person shot Friday night found a man, identified as 36-year-old Marco Velasquez-Sierra, about 11:55 p.m. in the 6400 block of South Winchester Avenue, police and the medical examiner’s office said.
He suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
Another man, 25, was found laying on a street corner shot in the 7600 block of South Bishop Street around 10:35 p.m. Friday night, officials said.
He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn where he died a day later, authorities said.
A woman locked the doors and took away the cellphones of her children before stabbing three — killing the youngest — and setting their Logan Square home on fire Friday morning, police said.
Chicago police officers broke in and found all three children inside the burning home in the 3600 block of West Palmer Street about 9:30 a.m.
Jordan Wallace, 4, was found stabbed in the chest. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he died, police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.
His siblings, an 11-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl, were hospitalized. The boy had been stabbed in the arm and was released from the hospital Friday afternoon. The girl was in critical condition with multiple stab wounds to the face, chest and back.
A man died after being found shot in the back in West Lawn on the Southwest Side early Friday morning, according to police.
The man, 52, was found unresponsive in the 3400 block of West 62nd Place at 2 a.m. by officers responding to a call of a person shot, police said. He died at the scene.
His death was ruled a homicide, according to the medical examiner’s office.
Mass shootings make up mass of violence
While the violence decreased compared to prior years, a couple of mass shootings across the city made up a significant portion of those injured despite Wednesday night’s mass shooting not being part of the tally.
A shooting late Friday in Back of the Yards during a Fourth of July celebration left seven people in serious or critical condition.
A group of people was gathered outside just after 11 p.m. in the 4800 block of South Justine Street when two gunmen walked up to them and opened fire, Chicago police said.
Two women, ages 21 and 27, as well as a 21-year-old man were taken in serious condition to Mount Sinai Hospital, police said. Two other women, both 25, were taken to University of Chicago Medical Center where one was in serious condition and the other was in critical condition.
Two other men, 29 and 42, as well as two 25-year-old women were taken to University of Chicago Medical Center, where the elder man and one of the women were in critical condition while the other two were listed as being in serious condition.
Hours later, four people were wounded in a drive-by shooting in Little Village.
The victims were in a parked car about 1:45 a.m. Saturday in the 2700 block of South California Boulevard when someone in a dark sport utility vehicle fired shots as they drove by, Chicago police said. Three men, ages 25, 26 and 32, were shot multiple times and listed in critical condition at Mount Sinai Hospital; another man, 33, was shot in the leg and was listed in fair condition.
Those two shootings alone made up more than a quarter of the number of people wounded in shootings during the weekend.
Tio Hardiman, who founded Violence Interrupters in 2004, said the mass shootings are part of a new “blitz” style shooting when people are out for revenge — firing at them in crowds regardless of who is in the way “like a storm coming down.”
But he said that also means the strategies that groups like his have used in the community historically should hopefully continue to prevent mass tragedies. He commended the city for expanding the hours of violence prevention programs through the weekend, but stressed that more hours alone wouldn’t be enough.
“Somebody knew they were going to go up there and commit that mass shooting,” Hardiman told the Sun-Times Sunday night. “It‘s all about boots on the ground and intercepting what’s going on in the community. … No matter how many hours you extend, if you don’t know the shooters, you won’t stop it.”
Violence Interrupters has been able to mediate 40 conflicts since the start of the year, and has worked with many “at-risk” city residents to re-enroll in school or get into job training programs.
Hardiman suggested the city open 24-hour recreation centers and called for a crackdown on illegal weapons trades, but for now, “we work to change the thinking because we can’t change the circumstances,” he said.
Downtrend in violence
Despite a deadly mass shooting Wednesday, going into the weekend Mayor Brandon Johnson said the violent event didn’t define the city, which has seen a downtrend in violent crime overall.
It continues a recent trend after Chicago saw the least violent Memorial Day weekend in at least 16 years, with four men killed and at least 21 others wounded.
Last year was also the first since 2019 with fewer than 600 homicides and a nearly three-year upswing in robberies ended last summer. A double-digit reduction in homicides and shootings left the city with fewer than 200 deaths during the first six months of the year.
“As the superintendent [Snelling] has indicated in this isolated incident,” Johnson said at the Thursday press conference. “It doesn’t define us as a city.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
