13 people shot at Chicago party

Police describe chaos, three shooting scenes

CHICAGO – Gunmen opened fire at a house party on the city’s South Side early Sunday, wounding 13 people and sparking bedlam as partygoers fleeing for safety encountered more shooting on the street outside, police said.

Patrol Chief Fred Waller said two “persons of interest” were being questioned. One was armed with a revolver, the other had suffered a gunshot wound at the party in the Englewood neighborhood, he said.

“There was a dispute where shots were fired inside,” Waller said. “The people started to spill out, and as they spilled out more shots were fired. So we have about three (shooting) scenes.”

Waller said the party was a memorial for someone who had been killed in April. He described a “chaotic” scene but said officers arrived within minutes and were assisting the wounded before ambulances arrived. Some of the outside shooting was caught on police surveillance video, he said.

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

Mayor Lori Lightfoot visited some of the victims at University of Chicago Hospital and urged people with information about the shooting to come forward to police. She also urged community leaders and neighbors to rally support for families suffering from gun violence.

“People deserve to live their lives without fear of someone pulling out a gun,” she said. “Especially in a moment of reflection and remembrance during the holiday season.”

The Rev. Michael Pfleger, who serves as senior pastor at nearby Saint Sabina Church, said that too often guns are used to express “pain, anger and frustration.”

“They were gathered to remember someone else who was Killed,” Pfleger said on Facebook. “So this is how we remember??? When do we end this GUN MADNESS?”

The victims’ ages ranged from 16 to 48, Waller said, and the violence appeared to stem from a personal dispute as opposed to a gang-related attack.

Police say violent crime is down in Chicago in 2019, and the department has forecast a double-digit percentage decline in shootings and homicides for the third straight year.

Still, about 475 homicides have been reported this year. And last month the city reached a dark milestone when the number of illegal gun seizures for the year reached a stunning 10,000.