3 Shootings In 3 Hours Leave 3 Dead, 2 Wounded
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Three people have died and two others are injured, following a string of shootings early Wednesday, just hours after Chicago police announced plans to deploy hundreds of extra officers to neighborhoods most plagued by gun violence.
The early morning shootings started around 12:45 a.m. in the Fuller Park neighborhood. A 32-year-old man was sitting in the front seat of a car near 52nd and Wells, when a person walked up and got into an argument with him. Police said the suspect then shot the victim in the head.
The victim was taken to the University of Chicago trauma center, where he later was pronounced dead. The suspect was arrested, and has a concealed carry license. Police said the shooting might be domestic-related.
Around 2 a.m., a 31-year-old woman and two other people were driving in the Englewood neighborhood, when they stopped near 73rd and Union to talk to a man. Police said the driver feared she and her passengers were about to be robbed, so she drove away, and the man fired shots into the vehicle.
The driver was shot in the head, and was taken to the University of Chicago in critical condition. No one was in custody Wednesday morning.
Around 3:40 a.m., five people were in a Jeep near the corner of Lake and Kostner in the West Garfield Park neighborhood, when someone in another vehicle began shooting. Three people in the Jeep were shot.
The Jeep crashed into a support column for the CTA Green Line after the shooting.
A 21-year-old man who was shot in the chest was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital. A 22-year-old woman who was shot in the back also was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai. A 19-year-old man who was shot in the chest was in serious condition at Stroger Hospital.
Two other people in the Jeep were not wounded.
No one was in custody Wednesday morning. Area North detectives were investigating.
The West Garfield Park neighborhood is one of five violence-plagued communities that soon will be getting hundreds of extra officers in an effort to stem the shootings. Police Supt. Eddie Johnson announced the deployment Tuesday afternoon, in response to an especially violent weekend that left 12 people dead and 54 others wounded from shootings between 6 p.m. Friday and midnight Sunday night.
Police hope the influx of officers will make witnesses feel safe about coming forward with information about unsolved shootings and homicides.