Fourteen people were injured in connection with a shooting Tuesday night outside a funeral home on Chicago’s south side, police officials said Tuesday.
The Chicago fire department took the victims to nearby hospitals in serious condition, said a fire department spokesman, Larry Langford.
Mourners outside a funeral home were shot from a passing SUV, said Eric Carter, the first deputy superintendent of Chicago police. Carter said several targets of the shooting returned fire. The SUV later crashed and the occupants fled in various directions. A person of interest has been arrested. Carter said all of the victims were adults.
Arnita Geder and Kenneth Hughes said they heard gunshots while watching television at their home, adding that they went out to find bodies that were shot and “lying everywhere.”
“We thought it was a war here,” Geder told the Chicago Sun-Times. “It’s ridiculous all the shooting that is going on here, it really has to stop.”
The shooting comes as the Department of Homeland Security is planning to deploy dozens of federal agents in Chicago to deal with a surge in violent crime in the city.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot, after threatening to sue if Donald Trump acted without her permission, said Tuesday that the city would be working with federal agents to fight crime.
Lightfoot was skeptical of federal agents Trump sent to Chicago amid a controversy in Portland, Oregon, where the Trump administration sent federal officials after weeks of protests there over the police brutality and racial injustice that followed George’s murder. Floyd in Minneapolis.
Lightfoot said he expected Chicago to receive resources that would connect to federal agencies already working with the city, including the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Office of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The Oregon Governor and Portland Mayor have expressed anger at the presence of federal agents, saying the city’s protests began to subside just as federal agents began to take action.
More details to come soon …
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