13 shot at memorial meeting

House party on what would have been birthday of another shooting victim turns bloody

CHICAGO police are questioning two suspected gunmen after 13 people were wounded, four of them critically, during a shooting inside a large memorial gathering early on Sunday in the Englewood neighbourhood on the South Side, authorities said.

At about 12.40am, a house party – celebrating what would’ve been the birthday of a man who also died as a result of gun violence – was in full swing.

But someone inside opened fire, sending 13 people to hospitals with gunshot wounds, according to Chicago police.

Those shot ranged in age from 16 to 48, and a 16-year-old boy was one of those in critical condition, said Fred Waller, who heads the patrol division for Chicago police.

Two suspected shooters were detained for questioning, Officer Michael Carroll said.

One of the suspected shooters was shot, and remained hospitalised for treatment of his gunshot wound. The second man was in possession of a revolver when he was stopped.

The party was in honour of the birthday of Lonell Irvin, 22, fatally shot during an attempted car hijacking on April 26.

Irvin died as the result of gunfire, but authorities said Irvin was wielding his own gun when he attempted to hijack a man with a licence to carry a concealed handgun.

The man grabbed his weapon from the glove compartment and shot Irvin in the head.

Authorities at the time categorised the shooter, who likely was rear-ended in a ploy to steal his 2015 BMW, as the victim in the fatal shooting.

Irvin’s shooting was one of at least 62 since Illinois started issuing concealed carry permits about six years ago.

Waller said there was a dispute during the party and someone started shooting inside the home where the memorial was being held for Irvin.

Once people started running outside, video surveillance from a city police camera captured images of someone firing more shots outside the home.

A different shooter was also caught on surveillance video shooting at a vehicle, Waller said.

“Definitely there were two different shooters,” Waller said. “It looked like they were just shooting randomly at people as they exited the party.”

Waller categorised the shooting as an “isolated” event. It wasn’t immediately clear if that meant it wasn’t retaliatory.

Sunday’s shooting was the fourth shooting attack on the 5700 block of South May Street since 2014, according to shootings data.

The other attacks left four people wounded and one person killed, on August 21. In that time, there have been 16 people shot on the blocks just north and south.

Outside the scene on Sunday, some women huddled outside red crime scene tape still had on their shirts with Irvin’s face printed on top of his birth and death date.

They expressed anger at how the party – which one woman said she spent hundreds of dollars to put on – was violently crashed by gunmen who were not invited.

“It was his birthday and they were just celebrating a memorial for somebody who died, and this is what they do,” said a 29-year-old woman who declined to give her name.

In Chicago, people grieving homicide victims have faced the added danger of perpetrators lurking nearby, ready to target a gathering of the deceased’s loved ones.

At a vigil in Chatham in January 2017, seven people, including a 12-year-old boy, were shot while they were paying their respects to a woman slain in a shooting that same week |