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Despite the fact that Chicago police took extra measures ahead of the Memorial Day holiday, including canceling days off, 47 people were shot between Friday and Monday. Nine of them died.
The number of people who were killed this year is triple that of the same weekend last year, when 32 people were shot and three were killed.
WATCH | Chicago Police Supt. discusses Memorial Day weekend shootings
But with the city now fully open and some 40 big events drawing hundreds of thousands downtown over the weekend, Chicago Police Supt. David Brown said Tuesday that violent crime is actually down.
“Our work is never done, it’s never done. One crime is one too many,” Chicago Police Supt. David Brown said. “Our results, thus far, have been highlighted with this hard work.”
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In one of the most recent shootings, police said a 19-year-old woman riding a bike near DuSable Harbor was shot around 10 p.m. by a man who had been shouting at her. She was hit in the thigh and taken to the hospital in fair condition.
A pair of shootings this weekend in River North left three people injured, and on the West Side, there were two mass shootings that left several people hurt and one person killed.
“I want to start by also thanking the police officers of the Chicago Police Department for their dedicated work over the holiday weekend and throughout the summer, and many missed moments with their family over the weekend,” Brown said.
Brown took in the tally of incidents and said despite the violence this weekend, homicides are down 8.53% compared to a year ago and shootings are down 15.9%. He said guns are being used to resolve personal, petty arguments.
“We’re awash in guns, here and in every major city,” Brown said. “It’s not lost upon me that multiple cities in this country had multiple shootings, high victimization everywhere.”
The incidents happened under the mayor and police superintendent’s holiday safety plan that was months in the making and included more officers on the street, canceled days off and longer than usual days.
Forty-six new officers were sworn in Tuesday, but the superintendent says he needs more like Officer Aja Ellis, a new police recruit from the city’s West Side.
“My impact, because I am from the communities that I serve, is to hopefully inspire not only the community but my 9-year-old daughter,” Ellis said.
“We could always use more officers, but as you know, every police department in the country is struggling to find new recruits,” Brown said. “We are on pace to fill our vacancies sooner rather than later.”
Many of the weekend shootings occurred in neighborhoods long troubled by gun violence.
In Lawndale, five people were wounded after gunmen opened fire on a crowd marking the anniversary of another teen’s killing. A 16-year-old girl was among the wounded in the shooting early Sunday morning in the 800 block of South Karlov Avenue. Shell casings and at least 97 evidence markers could be seen in the street outside Daniel Webster Elementary School.
Later Sunday, a man was killed and four others wounded, including a gunman, during a domestic incident in Humboldt Park. The shooting led to a standoff with a police SWAT team. A gunman, 23, was arrested over an hour later and treated for a gunshot wound, police said.
Other fatal shootings from the weekend between 5 p.m. Friday and 5 a.m. Tuesday:
Three men were wounded, one fatally, in a shooting Monday in Burnside on the South Side. They were near a sidewalk about 7:45 p.m. in the 1300 block of East 93rd Street when someone opened fire, police said. One man, 25, was shot in the chest and died at Trinity Hospital. Another man, 26, was also shot in the chest and taken to the same hospital in critical condition. The third man, 27, was shot in his body and taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center. His condition was not released.
A man was fatally shot Monday in Gresham on the South Side. About 5 p.m., the 26-year-old was in the 8600 block of South Aberdeen Street when he was shot multiple times, police said. He was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn and pronounced dead.
Also Monday, a man was killed in a shooting in Englewood on the South Side. He was inside a residence about 2:50 p.m. in the 6900 block of South Green Street when someone opened fire, striking him in the face and abdomen, police said. The 31-year-old died at the scene.
Jeremy Benson, 33, was shot and killed Sunday morning while driving in the West Garfield Park neighborhood, authorities said. He was shot while driving in the 4400 block of West Madison Street and crashed into a median, police said. He died at Mount Sinai Hospital.
A man was killed early Sunday in Englewood when gunfire erupted during a birthday party. The shooting sent hundreds of people running in the 5700 block of South Carpenter Street. A 24-year-old was shot and pronounced dead at the scene. Police placed a white cloth over the man, who was lying on a sidewalk near evidence markers. “They won’t even let me see his body,” the man’s mother said. “They could at least let me hold his hand.”
Hours earlier, two men killed each other during a shootout in Englewood, police said. The shootout happened at 5 p.m. Saturday in the 5500 block of South Bishop Street, police said. Both men were pronounced dead at the University of Chicago Medical Center. One of the men was identified as Derrick Washington, 29. The other man was 38.
Saturday afternoon, a man was killed in Chicago Lawn on the Southwest Side. He was shot in his head around 1:30 p.m. in the 2400 block of West 63rd Street, police said. He died at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. Police released no other details.
Last weekend, one person was killed and 26 others wounded in shootings across the city.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
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