A series of shootings in Chicago and Atlanta marred the weekend of July 4 and left the families of three children grieving over their deaths.
At least 72 people were shot in Chicago since early Friday morning, 15 fatally, including a 7-year-old girl who visited her grandmother during the holidays, according to police.
“When families were supposed to celebrate, have a good time, spend time together, they took away a 7-year-old girl,” Chief Detective Fred Waller of the Chicago Police Department said at a press conference. “A 7-year-old girl who was here visiting her grandmother, visiting her family, and now she’s gone.”
The shooting unfolded around 7 p.m. Saturday when the girl, identified by authorities as Natalie Wallace, was playing with other children and family members outside her grandmother’s home in the Austin neighborhood on the west side of Chicago, Waller said . Several men arrived in a light-colored car, got out and started shooting in the direction of Natalie and her family, Waller said.
The girl was hit in the forehead by a bullet.
She was taken to Cook County Stroger Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
“It was a family reunion, so there were a lot of kids,” said Waller. “There were kids riding bikes enjoying July 4th, as they should have, and now this kid is gone.”
No arrests have been made in the murder.
“Tonight, a 7-year-old girl in Austin joined a list of teens and children whose hopes and dreams were dashed by the barrel of a gun,” Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot wrote on Twitter Saturday night. .
Hours later, a 14-year-old boy was among the four people shot dead at a large Christmas gathering in the Englewood neighborhood on the south side of town, police said. The boy, whose name has not been released, was shot in the back and then taken to the Comer Children’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to police.
Police said the shooting occurred around 11:35 pm, when four men approached the meeting and opened fire. Four other people were injured in the incident, including an 11-year-old boy who was shot in the leg and ankle and a 15-year-old boy who was shot in the abdomen, according to police.
No arrests have been made.
A 10-year-old girl was also wounded in an early Sunday morning shooting in the Rogers Park neighborhood in the extreme north of Chicago, police said. The girl was standing in the hallway of her apartment building when, just after 1 a.m., a man fired multiple shots from outside and a bullet went through a door and grazed the girl’s hand, police said. . A 48-year-old woman who was with the girl at the time was shot in both legs and was taken to a hospital, where she was treated and in serious condition, according to police.
Chicago has been in the midst of what Mayor Lightfoot has described as an “epidemic of gun violence.”
The last butchery in Windy City came after a 20-month-old boy and 10-year-old girl were among the 14 people shot to death in Chicago last weekend, when 40 more were injured.
More than 100 people were shot, 14 fatally over Father’s Day weekend, and on May 31, Chicago police investigated 18 homicides, the most the city has seen in a single day in 60 years.
Meanwhile, an 8-year-old girl was killed in Atlanta on Saturday night when someone opened fire on a car she was traveling with with her mother and another adult, police said.
The Atlanta Police Department said a preliminary investigation found that the shooting occurred around 9:50 pm, when the person driving the car was trying to park in a parking lot and was confronted by a “group of armed individuals” who blocked the Entry.
“At some point, someone in that group opened fire on the vehicle, hitting it multiple times and hitting the boy inside,” police said in a statement.
The driver immediately drove to the Atlanta Medical Center, where the girl, whose name was not immediately released, was pronounced dead, police said.
No arrests have been made in the shooting.
Atlanta police also said more than a dozen people were shot during a large street party to see a fireworks display in the northeast part of the city. Around 1 am, a vehicle hit a pedestrian near the party and a fight broke out between several people, according to police.
“The altercation turned into multiple shots fired by several people,” police said in a statement. “At this time, it appears that a total of 14 people were hit by gunfire in that area. All of the victims were taken to area hospitals in private vehicles.”
Authorities said two of those injured in the incident were in critical condition, while 12 were in a stable condition.
“Right now, investigators are working to identify all parties involved and determine the circumstances surrounding the shooting,” the police statement read.
An unrelated incident in northeast Atlanta left and a man and woman with gunshot wounds after confronting a group of people who had been downloading fireworks outside a residence, police said.
At some point during the confrontation, they were shot and both victims were beaten, “police said in a statement, adding that both victims were in stable condition at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.
Police authorities said detectives were working on Sunday to resolve the circumstances of the shooting and identify the suspects.
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