33 Shot Over Warm Weekend in Chicago, Including 2 Children at Baby Shower

Police tape in a stock photo. Carl Ballou/Shutterstock

Six people were shot at a baby shower in Chicago, including two children, in what police suspect to be a gang revenge attack.

A 10-year-old girl and 8-year-old boy were said by police to be in “critical but stable condition” following the shooting on the evening of Saturday, April 6, on Chicago’s South Side.

They were the youngest of the 33 people shot over the weekend in a city where temperatures hit their highest so far this year.

The children were shot outside a family gathering in West Englewood, together with four adults who were also wounded.

“We know that two men in dark clothing approached the family gathering, which we believe was a baby shower and opened fire,” said Anthony Guglielmi, chief communications officer of the Chicago Police in a statement. 

South Seeley Avenue, and 63rd Street, where a shooting happened at a baby shower on April 6, 2019. Screenshot/Google maps

“Based on the victim profiles, we suspect this could have been from an earlier incident that stemmed from an ongoing gang conflict in that neighborhood,” Guglielmi said.

Eyewitnesses told the Chicago Tribune that there were about 20 children outside at the time. They rushed toward the house as the shots rang out, piling onto each other as they tried to get through the door, Richard Nix, whose oldest grandson was having the baby shower, told the paper.

“We were trying to pick the kids up, get the kids out of the way. … They were going to get crushed,” Nix said. “It wasn’t nothing but kids in front of the house, sitting on the porch. They were just playing, and the shooting went off.”

“The ones that were doing the shooting, none of them get shot,” Nix said. “It’s just all the innocent people.”

The two children in Englewood were among 4 children who were shot in total over the weekend, according to WGN-TV.

According to Fox News, police reported the two gunmen fled on foot. However, WGNTV cites witnesses who said that the shots were fired from a passing SUV.

Police said that the individuals at the scene were not being cooperative.

Eyewitnesses told local stations that the boy had been shot in the chest and that the girl was hit in the leg.

“She’s screaming, people across the street are screaming, kids are running around,” witness Lamon Reccord told WGNTV. “This little boy and his mom is putting pressure on his chest from the gunshot wound to his chest.”

He was taken to hospital after police officers arrived and took over CPR.

“Two of the officers saved his life,” Nix said. “We were just trying to hold the pressure down, but the officers came up and started doing CPR, and I honestly believe they saved his life.”

Mayor Rahm Emanuel said he knows the family of the 8-year-old boy, reported WGNTV.

“I’m sick as everyone else in this city, sick and tired,” Emanuel said. “You have nothing but a bunch of gang bangers thinking our streets are their firing range.”

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (L), comforts Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, on Nov. 19, 2018, during a news conference at the University of Chicago Medical Center, in Chicago, after a gunman opened fire at Mercy Hospital, killing a police officer and two hospital employees. Chris Walker/Chicago Tribune via AP

An uptick in violence often follows a rise in temperature over the summer months in Chicago, where the winter cold keeps people indoors. With a rise in temperature come more social gatherings, more alcohol, more disputes ... and more violence.

Temperatures climbed to their highest yet this year over the weekend.

According to the Chicago Tribune, a 13-year-old boy was among 24 shot in various incidents over the weekend, which left three dead.

Including those shot since Friday afternoon, the total rises to 33, according to WGNTV, with four fatalities.