5 Dead, 29 Wounded In Weekend Violence
Updated 08/06/12 - 10:17 a.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- At least five people were killed, and 23 others were wounded, by gunfire and other violence in Chicago this past weekend.
The first deadly incident happened around 3:45 a.m. Saturday, when a man was beaten and stabbed at the BP gas station at LaSalle Boulevard and Ontario Street in bustling River North.
Eric Lopez, 20, who had recently moved to Chicago from Puerto Rico, was with some other people in a van at the gas station. A party bus pulled into the gas station, gang signs were flashed, and a fight broke out, a law enforcement source said.
The van sped off and the victim took off running, with people from the party bus chasing him. When the others noticed that Lopez was not in the van with them, they turned back and found the man in the 600 block of North LaSalle Boulevard, suffering from multiple stab wounds, the source said.
Lopez was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4:18 a.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office. The source said Lopez, who had recently moved to Chicago from Puerto Rico, has no record of a criminal history.
A relative of Lopez's, a 17-year-old boy, was also stabbed at that location and suffered multiple lacerations, according to police. The boy was treated at a Northwestern Memorial Hospital and released.
Around 2:40 a.m. Sunday, a 19-year-old man died after being shot in the head in the Albany Park neighborhood.
Sameer Barakat was in the block where he lived, in the 4900 block of North Whipple Street, when he was shot in the head, authorities said.
Barakat was pronounced dead at Illinois Masonic Medical center at 9:04 a.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.
Around 7 p.m. Sunday, a man was found shot multiple times in the 5000 block of South Wabash Avenue, not far from Washington Park. The man, identified as Frederick Giles, was later pronounced dead, authorities said.
About three hours later, a 22-year-old man was shot and killed in the South Shore neighborhood.
Chateau Mersier was shot in the armpit in the 7300 block of South Oglesby Avenue at about 10:09 p.m., authorities said.
Mersier, of the 7800 block of South Jeffery Boulevard, was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead, authorities said.
In a fifth incident around 12:40 a.m. Monday, a man identified as Perry L. Williams was found shot in a vehicle in the 10400 block of South Vincennes Avenue.
A source said Williams was actually shot in the 9800 block of South Throop Street. He then called his wife and asked her to meet him at a fire station on 104th Street.
Williams drove there and was treated by paramedics there who then transported him to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn where he died, the source said.
At least 29 others were wounded in weekend shootings and stabbings, including a 22-year-old man who was shot by a male who disguised his face with a T-shirt in the 2700 block of East 74th Street about 9:45 p.m. Sunday.
In other incidents, two men, ages 24 and 32, were shot in the back and reported in critical condition around 12:45 a.m. Monday in the 6600 block of South Marshfield Avenue. And a 31-year-old man was critically wounded as he exited his vehicle at 3:34 a.m. Saturday in the 3800 block of South Sacramento Avenue, in the Brighton Park neighborhood.
Around 12:20 a.m. Saturday, a 27-year-old woman was getting out of her vehicle in the 100 block of North LaPorte Avenue, in the South Austin neighborhood, when someone in a passing red sport-utility vehicle opened fire, hitting the woman with gunshots.
She was taken in critical condition to Mount Sinai Hospital with gunshot wounds to her side and abdomen, according to police.
And near the Lollapalooza festival in Grant Park, a 53-year-old man was stabbed in the chest about 7 p.m. Friday. Witnesses and authorities said the incident happened shortly on the southwest corner of Adams Street and Michigan Avenue, across from the Art Institute of Chicago, and not far from the music fest.
Police said Sunday that the victim was in stable condition at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
That was on the only incident downtown as Lollapalooza was in progress. Late Saturday, two men got into an argument which escalated into a fight, with one of the men stabbing the other, in the 300 block of South Columbus Drive.
The fight happened about 11:20 p.m. in Grant Park just after Lollapalooza ended.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2012. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
