Nearly 100 people have been shot in Chicago in less than a week, pushing the number of shooting victims so far this year to more than 2,500 about 800 more than this time last year, according to data kept by the Tribune.
Between last Friday afternoon and early Thursday, at least 99 people were shot in the city, 24 of them fatally. At least nine people were killed on Monday alone, the deadliest day in Chicago in 13 years, according to Tribune data. Among the wounded that day was a 10-year-old boy shot in the back as he played on his front porch in Lawndale.
The number of shooting victims in Chicago stood at 2,514 Thursday morning. At this time last year, 1,725 people had been shot. The city has not seen this level of gun violence since the 1990s, a trend the Police Department has blamed on lax gun laws and feuding gang factions.
Over eight hours from Wednesday evening through early Thursday, three people were killed and at least 10 others were wounded in the city.
A 45-year-old man was killed and two others were wounded when someone walked up to their van in the Gresham neighborhood around 1:55 a.m. Thursday, yelled “Hey” and started shooting, police said.
The three — two men and a woman — had been stopped at a stop sign in the 8000 block of South Marshfield Avenue when the gunman opened fire, police said. The van took off, made a left turn on 78th Street and stopped, police said.
The 45-year-old man was shot in the back and forearm. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn and was pronounced dead, police said.
The other man was shot in the right forearm and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where his condition was stabilized. The woman was struck in the hip and back. She was also taken to Stroger, where her condition was stabilized, police said.
About 10:20 p.m. Wednesday, a 22-year-old man died after being shot in the head in the West Pullman neighborhood on the Far South Side, police said.
Officers responded to a call of shots fired and found Stephon Triplett lying on the parkway in the 12400 block of South Lowe Avenue, police said. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 11:13 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Triplett lived two blocks away in the 12400 block of South Emerald Avenue, the office said.
The third fatal shooting occurred around the same time, at 10 p.m., in the Near West Side neighborhood, police said.
A 22-year-old woman was in a car traveling west on Adams Street near Oakley Avenue when a black Hyundai sedan pulled up and someone got out and fired shots, police said. The gunman ran away as the Hyundai sped away, police said.
The woman was hit twice in the chest. She was driven to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, police said.
She was identified as Jamie Williams, of the 10600 block of South LaSalle Street, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. She was pronounced dead at 10:19 p.m. after suffering a gunshot wound to the chest, the office determined following an autopsy Thursday.
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