At least 79 people were shot, including 16 fatally, over the Independence Day weekend in Chicago, according to authorities.
Authorities confirmed the death toll to
NBC5 on Sunday afternoon. A 7-year-old girl was among those who were gunned down on Saturday night.
Nine of the weekend’s victims were minors, and two children died, officials told
Fox32. That includes 14-year-old boy who was among four people who were killed in the South Side neighborhood Englewood on Saturday evening.
The victims were at a large gathering on the street at around 11:35 p.m. on South Carpenter Street. Four males then approached the group and began shooting, police said, adding that the 14-year-old boy was shot in the back before he was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
The three other males, who were not identified, were pronounced dead at the scene and at the University of Chicago Medical Center, police said.
In the same incident, an 11-year-old boy suffered a bullet graze wound, and a 15-year-old boy was shot in the abdomen. They were taken to the Comer hospital, and both are currently in fair condition, authorities said.
Officials said a 7-year-old girl was shot in the head while standing on the sidewalk at her grandmother’s house during a Fourth of July celebration at 7 p.m. in Austin on the West Side,
according to The Associated Press.
“Tonight, a 7-year-old girl in Austin joined a list of teenagers and children whose hopes and dreams were ended by the barrel of a gun,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot
wrote on Twitter on Saturday. “As a city, we must wrap our arms around our youth so they understand there’s a future for them that isn’t wrapped up in gun violence.”
In the incident, according to police, suspects emerged from a vehicle and started shooting. No suspects have been apprehended.
Chicago Police Chief of Operations Fred Waller told NBC5 that the violence against children needs to end.
“You gotta be tired of this,” he
said. “Chicago’s heart is broken again. Austin’s heart is broken again ... I’m tired of this.”
Meanwhile, in a later incident at around 2:15 a.m. on Sunday in the South Side, a 21-year-old man was shot to death while standing on the sidewalk, police
said. An hour before that, a woman was shot and five men were injured when a person opened fire at a crowd setting off fireworks in the West Side’s Lawndale neighborhood.
