Witnesses recount deadly mass shooting at Juneteenth gathering near Willowbrook
WILLOWBROOK, Ill. (CBS) -- One person is dead and 22 others are injured following a shooting near suburban Willowbrook early Sunday morning. It happened around 12:30 as people gathered to celebrate Juneteenth in a parking lot near Honey Suckle Rose Lane and Route 83.
People who live nearby say this is an annual event that has been peaceful the past couple of years, but this year the crowd was larger than before.
"I couldn't believe this was happening here in Willowbrook," said one 18-year-old woman, who doesn't want her identity known.
She said she attended the gathering and saw firsthand how it quickly got out of control.
"It was at least, at least a minute worth of shooting," she said. "Once the girls started fighting is when the guns started going off."
According to the DuPage County Sheriff's Office, a crowd gathered for a party in a parking lot near HInsdale Lake Terrace.
Police were already monitoring the scene, but were called away to an alleged 911 call of a fight that had broken out nearby. As deputies responded, they heard gunshots and immediately returned to the gathering.
"After the guns finally stopped, find my people. Once I did get up, I saw maybe two, three bodies on the ground," said the 18-year-old witness.
One person was killed and 22 others were wounded as a result of the shooting. Several others were also hurt in an attempt to run from the area.
Video shows the sea of officers that responded.
The 18-year-old said they've had previous Juneteenth gatherings at this location, but it never got out of hand.
"The last two years it was not like this," she said. "No fighting, none of that. For it to be multiple fights on top of the mass shooting, it's crazy."
One neighbor said he let his daughter go, but as soon as the crowd got out of hand he told her to go home.