10 dead, 55 wounded in Chicago
Spate of shootings disrupts Fourth of July weekend
Chicago — Shootings over the Fourth of July weekend in Chicago left 10 people dead and 55 others wounded, a toll lower than last year but one marked by an intense stretch of gun violence over eight hours on one of the nights.
Among those killed was 7-year-old Amari Brown, shot in the chest as he watched fireworks near his father’s home late Saturday.
Police say they believe the attack was aimed at the father, whom they
described as a ranking gang member.
Also gunned down was 17-year-old Vonzell Banks, who was shot as he played basketball Friday at a park named for Hadiya Pendleton, a high school student fatally shot in 2013 near President Barack Obama’s Chicago home.
The wounded included a 16-yearold boy and a 15-year-old girl shot Sunday shortly after midnight as they walked in the Old Town neighborhood, and a 19-year-old man shot around 10 p.m. Saturday as two groups fought near Navy Pier after a fireworks display there.
The violence peaked from dusk Saturday until dawn Sunday, when
30 people were shot across Chicago — nearly half the total for the entire weekend, measured from 3 p.m. Thursday until just before dawn Monday.
Last Fourth of July, 82 people were shot, 16 of them fatally, over 84 hours. Five of those shot were wounded by police. There were no police-involved shootings this year.
Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said the weekend outbreak in violence shows the number of officers working the streets isn’t as critical in preventing shootings as having effective gun laws that put gun offenders behind bars for a long time.