By Elyssa Cherney
Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO — At least 12 people were shot from Saturday afternoon to Sunday morning during the long Memorial Day weekend, police said.
Most recently, a 34-year-old man was shot in the back in the South Shore neighborhood about 5 a.m. Sunday. He was outside in the 6800 block of South Crandon Avenue when he heard a gunshot and felt pain. He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in serious condition.
Two of the most recent shootings occurred in the West Woodlawn neighborhood on the South Side. A 29-year-old man was walking in the 6600 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue about 4:05 a.m. Sunday when a man came up to him, demanded money and opened fire before running away. The victim made his way to South Shore Hospital with a gunshot wound to the lower back and had his condition stabilized.
About two hours earlier in the same neighborhood, two men were shot while driving in a vehicle in the 400 block of East 62nd Street about 4:10 a.m. The men, ages 27 and 28, told police they were traveling southbound on King Drive near 62nd Street when they heard shots and felt pain. They got themselves to University of Chicago Medical Center. The 27-year-old was hit in the right calf, and the 28-year-old was hit in the right ankle.
A 25-year-old woman was shot while walking in a park about 2 a.m. in the 1300 block of South Throop Street in Englewood. A man came up to her and shot her in the abdomen and left arm. She was taken to Stroger Hospital, where her condition was stabilized.
A 27-year-old man was shot in the back while standing on a porch in the Marquette Park neighborhood about 1:05 a.m. Sunday. Several men fired shots from the gangway in the 6600 block of South Campbell Avenue. The victim was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center, where his condition was stabilized.
A 22-year-old man was shot while walking in the Old Irving Park neighborhood just after 12:30 a.m. He was on the sidewalk in the 4200 block of West Addison Street when he heard shots and realized he was hit in the lower abdomen. He was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where his condition was stabilized.
A 29-year-old man was shot multiple times just before 12:30 a.m. Sunday while standing on a sidewalk in front of a liquor store in the Park Manor neighborhood. He was hit in the abdomen, buttocks and thigh, and taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition.
An employee at the liquor store, Grand Palace Liquor, said he heard multiple shots and ducked down before coming outside to see what happened in the 7100 block of South State Street.
A man was lying in the street and crying, the worker said. A baseball cap and green piece of clothing sat next to a splatter of blood on the sidewalk, which was littered with stray papers and empty food cartons.
As paramedics lifted the man onto a stretcher, his arms were limp and his back slid off.
One man was parked in his car when the shots rang out. He dropped to the floor and then went to buy a Modelo beer in the store.
A 19-year-old man was shot while walking in 1300 block of South Millard Avenue in the Lawndale neighborhood about 10:55 p.m. He told police he heard shots and realized he was hit. He got himself to Mount Sinai Hospital with a gunshot wound to the right hip, and his condition was stabilized.
A 23-year-old man and a 24-year-old man were shot in the South Austin neighborhood just before 7 p.m., police said. The men said they were in the 1100 block of North Lockwood Avenue when they heard shots and felt pain. Both got themselves to West Suburban Medical Center. The 23-year-old was shot in the left leg, and the 24-year-old was shot in the right wrist and bicep.
In the Chatham area, a 21-year-old man suffered a graze wound to the left arm about 5:45 p.m. in the 7700 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue, according to a police media notification. The man went in a private vehicle to St. Bernard Hospital, where he was in good condition. The man told police he was walking west near 7700 S. Cottage Grove Ave. when he heard shots and felt pain.
Just before 3:50 p.m., a 23-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to the leg in the 5500 block of South Honore Street in the West Englewood neighborhood, and went to Stroger Hospital in good condition. The gunshot appeared to be self-inflicted, and police confiscated the gun, according to police. The man was in police custody, and charges were pending against him, police said.
This holiday weekend has more extra officers working each day than Memorial Day weekend 2016, according to Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson.
This year, 1,300 extra officers, on top of the normal staffing levels, will be working this weekend, Johnson said. Last year, there were about 880 extra officers working, according to police.
By just before midnight May 28, 2016, 32 people had been shot in Chicago since the beginning of the Memorial Day weekend. In all, 71 people were shot, six of them fatally, Memorial Day weekend in 2016, according to data compiled by the Tribune.
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