CHICAGO (WLS) — Over the weekend, seven young individuals were struck by gunfire close to St. Sabina Church. This area is central to a community that has long opposed Chicago’s gun violence. Even four days after the incident, the painful impact remained palpable among residents.
This has prompted a new initiative aimed at supporting those in crisis. On Thursday, an emergency assistance center was launched at the church on West 78th Place in Auburn Gresham.
Community members were offered an array of resources, including counseling and youth services and help with applying for victim compensation.
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Since the mass shooting, there’s been a focus on action in the community. There was a police roll call there on Tuesday.
Sponsored by Chicago police, the emergency assistance center opened its doors at 4 p.m. on Wednesday at St. Sabina Church in Auburn Gresham. It provided community members access to counseling, youth services, crime victim compensation applications, and additional resources. The center operated until 7 p.m.
The services are being offered days after seven teenagers, ages 17 to 19, were wounded in a weekend shooting steps from St. Sabina.
People need to understand that mass shootings, shooting across at folks, is not acceptable, so this is an example of a community coming together to support people who are victims of that.
Garien Gatewood, Deputy Mayor of Public Safety
Police said offenders in a dark-colored Jeep SUV opened fire as hundreds of young people were gathered outside a house for a post-prom party near 78th and Throop a little before 2 a.m. Saturday morning. All seven victims are expected to survive.
“CPD was out here before the shooting happened. They were trying to make sure that the kids were dispersed,” 17th Ward Ald. David Moore said. “Parents gotta get engaged. This something you cannot legislate.”
No one is in custody for the shooting, and St. Sabina’s father Michael Pfleger is offering a $10,000 reward for information in the case.
“Parents… where’s your child at one or two o’clock in the morning?” Ald. Moore said. “You shouldn’t have a hundred kids out at two o’clock in the morning and the parents not know where they are.”
Officials said this emergency assistance center at St. Sabina is not just for those impacted by the shooting over the weekend. Anyone who’s been touched by violence is welcome.
“We saw a pretty tragic incident here just a few days ago, and this is how we need to continue to respond,” said Garien Gatewood, Deputy Mayor of Public Safety. “People need to understand that mass shootings, shooting across at folks, is not acceptable, so this is an example of a community coming together to support people who are victims of that.”
The city’s outreach efforts will continue Friday evening with a take-back-the-block event is planned at the Auburn Gresham church.
The shooting comes as violent crime is declining in Chicago.
The ABC7 Safety Tracker shows, compared to the yearly average of the past three years, murders in the past 12 months are down more than 16%, the number of shooting victims are down nearly 20% and overall violent crime, which includes batteries, assaults, and robberies, is down 8.5%.
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