Halloween was somewhat chilly and rainy, but that didn’t stop another gruesome tradition in Chicago with 26 shot and 2 dead. But while the total number shot this year outpaced 2014 and 2013, the number of killed was actually lower.
While only two were killed this year, more died in previous years. In 2014, 19 were shot with four of those dying, while in 2013 15 were shot and five killed.
The weekend started with a Friday that saw a slew of woundings but fortunately no deaths. It was Saturday, Halloween Day, that saw the biggest number of shootings and deaths experienced during the weekend.
In fact, Halloween was only 15 minutes old before the day’s first shootings occurred, with one at 12:15 AM and a second ten minutes later. The latter resulted in the first death of the weekend. Later that day a man from the South Side was charged in the stabbing death of 43-year-old Dorian Smith.
Along with those two crimes, another 12 Chicagoans were shot on Saturday. But one of those shootings was a justifiable homicide carried out by a Chicagoan with a legal concealed carry permit who was confronted by a robber just after 7PM that evening. The robber, Reginald Gildersleeve, 55, was killed during his robbery attempt.
Halloween night was topped off with a triple shooting in the city’s Burnside neighborhood when three men sitting in a car were all shot in a drive by shooting.
As the weekend’s toll came to an end, even more citizens were shot on Sunday. Fortunately, no deaths resulted.
Friday also saw the ancillary results of violence in Chicago when a hospital worker riding a bike to work was run down by a car carrying shooting victims to St. Francis hospital. The hospital employee suffered a compound fracture to her leg and was reported in stable condition.
The Halloween weekend brings the city’s violence level to 2,558 shot this year with 378 killed by gunfire. Total homicides came to 428 killed.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com