CHICAGO (AP) – At least 13 people, including a 7-year-old girl at a family party and a teenager, were killed in Chicago over the weekend of July 4, police said. At least 59 others were shot and wounded.
In a shooting just before midnight Saturday, four men opened fire on a large street gathering in the Englewood neighborhood, police spokesman Tom Ahern said. Two men died at the scene and two more, including a 14-year-old boy, died in a hospital, Ahern said.
Four others were injured; one was in critical condition and the other three were in good condition, Ahern said. The four attackers fled the scene. No one was arrested.
The 7-year-old girl was fatally shot in the head while standing on the sidewalk at her grandmother’s home during a July 4 party around 7 p.m. in the Austin neighborhood, police said.
The suspects got out of a car and started shooting, police said. No one has been arrested.
“Tonight, a 7-year-old girl in Austin joined a list of teens and children whose hopes and dreams were shattered by the barrel of a gun,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said on Twitter Saturday night.
The mayor added: “As a city, we must embrace our young people so that they understand that there is a future for them that is not involved in armed violence.”
A 32-year-old man was injured in the shooting and was in good condition.
The Chicago Sun-Times, citing police, said seven of the wounded in shootings were minors.
This weekend’s shooting that killed youth followed the tragedy of the previous weekend when the victims included a 1-year-old boy who was riding in a car with his mother and a 10-year-old girl who was inside their home. When a bullet fired a block away, it went through a window and hit her in the head as she sat on a sofa.
In response to the violence that has occurred since the Memorial Day weekend, police said they would have 1,200 additional officers on the streets for this holiday weekend.
