5 Dead, 21 Hurt In Halloween Weekend Shootings
CHICAGO (CBS) - Fear on Halloween is supposed to revolve around skeletons, ghosts and slasher costumes, but this past weekend, a rash of shootings put Chicagoans under a fear of real danger.
At least five people were killed, and at least 21 more were wounded, in shootings over the weekend in every region of the city.
The Englewood, Woodlawn and Uptown neighborhoods were hit particularly hard.
• The violence began Friday night, when an 18-year-old man and a 41-year-old woman were shot and wounded in the 2000 block of West 68th Place in the West Englewood neighborhood. The two were standing outside with others at 11 p.m. when shots were fired and they felt pain, and were taken to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, police News Affairs Officer Greer said. Nobody else was wounded.
• Within an hour, there was another shooting. At 11:45 p.m. Friday, a 32-year-old man was shot in the groin in the 4000 block of South Sacramento Avenue on the city's Southwest Side, and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in stable condition. Police believe the shooting might have been gang-related.
• The violence continued Saturday, when a man was shot and wounded in broad daylight in the Uptown neighborhood.
The shooting happened just before 1 p.m. in the 4500 block of North Malden Street, police said. The man was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the leg.
• Another broad-daylight shooting Saturday left a man critically wounded in Englewood. The man was rehabbing a building in the 5900 block of South Justine Street when he was shot and wounded at 1:40 p.m.
Four men demanded money from the man, but even after the victim complied, one of the men took out a gun and shot him in the abdomen, police said. The shooting victim was taken to Stroger Hospital of Cook County in critical condition, police said.
• After nightfall Saturday, a man was shot and killed in the Little Village neighborhood. Robert Vela, of Midlothian, was shot in the 2600 block of West 24th Street around 7 p.m. Saturday, and was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital.
Police say Vela was between 34 and 36 years old. A motive is unknown.
• At 9:50 p.m. Saturday, a man was shot in the Woodlawn neighborhood. The man, in his 30s, was shot in the chest in the 6300 block of South King Drive and was taken to to University of Chicago Medical Center, police News Affairs Officer Amina Greer said.
Worst Day Sunday
Halloween itself was the bloodiest day of the weekend. Four people lost their lives to gunfire, and several shootings sent multiple people to hospitals.
• The first reported incident happened back in Englewood, two more men were shot around 12:46 a.m. Sunday in the 6900 block of South Racine Avenue.
A 25-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to the leg and a male of an unidentified age was shot in the abdomen and leg. Both were taken in serious condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.
• About an hour later, one man was killed and six others were wounded when shots rang out during a family gathering at a Woodlawn neighborhood bar.
Police said the shooting happened about 1:50 a.m. inside Inflation Lounge at 541 E. 63rd St. when an argument started at a private party and at least one person started shooting. The lounge has a private room in addition to the bar.
A family had closed down the establishment to gather there and celebrate the life of a man who was killed about this time last year when the incident occurred, according to police.
A man identified by the Cook County Medical Examiner's office as Keonte Barney was killed while six other people were shot and wounded, four of them critically injured.
Barney, 30, of an unidentified address was pronounced dead at 2:28 a.m. at Saint Bernard Hospital and Health Care Center, according to a spokeswoman for the medical examiner's office.
A 27-year-old man was shot in the abdomen, a 29-year-old woman in the back, a 22-year-old woman in the leg, a 31-year-old woman also in the leg, a 22-year-old man in the leg and buttocks, and a 21-year-old man in the leg, police said.
The wounded were not cooperating with police when they were questioned early Sunday, and a motive remained unknown, police said.
• Then just after 5 p.m., an 18-year-old man was shot and killed in the 9200 block of South Dobson Avenue in the Burnside neighborhood.
Alonzo Jones, 18, was shot in the back of the head just after 5 p.m. in the 9200 block of South Dobson Avenue, police said. He was pronounced dead at Christ Medical Center.
Two 17-year-old boys and a 13-year-old boy were shot around 5:15 p.m. Sunday at Montrose and Magnolia avenues, police said.
Two families, each with two children, were headed out to go trick-or-treating on a few blocks away on Kenmore Avenue, when they heard five or six shots. The children were left "crying and scared," a neighbor said.
Another neighbor reported seeing trick-or-treaters hiding behind trees and cars as the shots rang out.
• About an hour later, a 35-year-old man was shot and killed just a few blocks away in the 1000 block of West Sunnyside Avenue. Marlos Canteberry was shot in the head at 6:20 p.m. and was later pronounced dead at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
• In another incident, an 18-year-old man was shot several times in his legs as two men approached him in the 1200 block of West 79th Street. At 7:30 p.m. Sunday, the victim was approached by two people who shot him three times in the legs, police said. He was taken to Christ Medical Center.
• Another victim lost his life in West Englewood around 10 p.m. Sunday. Jerrod Benton, of the 6900 block of South Paulina Street, was shot with another man in the 6900 block of South Wolcott Avenue, police said.
Benton was pronounced dead at Holy Cross Hospital with a gunshot wound to the head. Another man, also in his 20s, received a gunshot wound to the back and was taken to an area hospital in an unknown condition, Alfaro said.
• Another shooting happened at 9:45 p.m. Sunday in the 3600 block of East 105th Street. A man was driving on the block when a black car pulled up beside him and someone opened fire from inside.
The man drove about five miles to 93rd Street and Cottage Grove Avenue, where he was treated and released from Christ Medical Center.
• Also, while no one was injured, three young men were caught firing a BB gun Saturday night on the Chicago Riverwalk near Michigan Avenue. The suspects, two of them 18 and one 19, were charged with reckless conduct in the incident at 6 p.m. Police recovered a black semiautomatic BB gun and several cartridges of carbon dioxide gas.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
