The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Funeral home gunfire injuring 15 was gang conflict, police say
CHICAGO — The eruption of gunfire outside a funeral home on Chicago’s South Side that left 15 people wounded was part of an ongoing conflict involving the gang of a young man being mourned and a rival gang, police said Wednesday as the federal government planned to send more agents to the city to combat a spike in gun violence.
Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan said the man whose funeral people were attending had been killed in a drive-by shooting last week and that he was killed in retaliation for a previous shooting.
Police said people were outside a funeral home in the Gresham neighborhood Tuesday when three people pulled up in a stolen car and two of them opened fire. People at the funeral returned fire, the car crashed a short time later and the three occupants fled on foot, police said.
Police Superintendent David Brown said at least 60 shell casings were recovered following the shooting, which happened despite police having two squad cars outside the funeral home — a precaution the department regularly takes at funerals involving a gang member or those linked to gangs — as well as a tactical team deployed to the neighborhood.
“We had intelligence that the deceased was killed in a drive-by shooting ... and there was a gang connection, and we deployed our resources accordingly,” he told reporters at a news conference.
All those shot were adults. Police said Wednesday that two were in critical condition and the other 13 who were injured are expected to recover. They have said one person of interest was taken in for questioning Tuesday night, and on Wednesday police declined to provide further details.
The shooting comes as the Department of Homeland Security is planning to deploy dozens of federal agents to Chicago to deal with a significant uptick in violent crime in the city. Neither Brown nor Mayor Lori Lightfoot commented at the news conference on the planned increased federal presence in the city.
On Tuesday, those shot outside the funeral home included 10 women ages 21 to 65, including one of whom was shot in the chest, police said. The 65-year-old was treated at the scene.
Other victims include a man who was shot in the chest, arm and forearm, and two men, 32 and 22, who were shot in a hand, police said.