Between 6PM Friday and late Sunday night, 22 Chicagoans were wounded, among them a three-year-old boy who was seriously injured. A 13-year-old boy was also killed over night on Friday.
As Friday turned to Saturday 12 people were shot in Rahm Emanuel’s city with one killed in shootings that were mostly gang related.
The three-year-old was walking with his mother and a man when several passersby turned around and opened fire on the trio. The toddler was shot through the stomach, the bullet exiting out his hip, and was last reported as in serious condition in a local hospital.
The Chicago Police say that the mother’s boyfriend was the intended target of the assailants.
Two men have been arrested and charged with the shooting, which was perpetrated in the 4400 block of South Sacramento Avenue.
Also on Friday, a 13-year-old boy was killed as he and a group of friends emerged from a store.
Police reported that it was likely that several men driving by in a car opened fire on the group of teens. Six more young people were shot in the same incident that claimed the life of the boy.
The Chicago PD reports that many of the shootings are a result of violence driven by the Mexican cartels and the drug trade.
The violence in Chicago is not confined to just weekends, of course. Last Tuesday, one person was killed and four wounded in overnight violence.
More than a dozen are wounded during the weekdays in Chicago, as well, even as the weekend tallies get most of the press.
Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy continues to blame guns for all the violence instead of gangs and drug cartels, but McCarthy may be about to have some other problems of his own with a new investigation heating up of the Newark, New Jersey Police department.
The US Justice Department is investigating allegations that the Newark police engaged in a “pattern” of unconstitutional policing during McCarthy’s tenure as chief between 2006 and 2011.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.