A bloody Father’s Day weekend in Chicago ended with at least 26 people shot in just five hours early Monday.
In all, at least 72 people were hit by gunfire from Friday evening through the predawn hours of Monday, according to data collected by the Sun-Times. Eight of them died.
Two mass shootings occurred within an hour of each shortly after 12:01 a.m. Monday, wounding seven in Englewood and five in Humboldt Park, including a 15-year-old girl.
The toll was slightly less than last Father’s Day weekend, which stretched over three days because Juneteenth fell on that Monday. In 2023, at least 75 people were shot over that stretch, 13 of them fatally. There were four mass shootings.
The most violent Father’s Day in Chicago in recent history was in 2020, when 104 people were shot across the city, 15 of them fatally. Five of those killed were minors.
During this past weekend, the Englewood Police District on the South Side recorded the most people shot: at least 16. The Harrison Police District on the West Side, which includes the Garfield Park and Humboldt Park neighborhoods, was close behind with at least 12 shooting victims.
At an event Monday announcing expanded violence prevention programs in several South and West side neighborhoods — including Humboldt Park and Englewood — Ald. Emma Mitts praised the work of outreach workers who mediate conflicts and respond to shooting scenes.
“I know you were out all night,” Mitts told the audience of nonprofit groups and anti-violence workers.
She blamed the violence in Humboldt Park early Monday on a gathering of young people that got out of control. “This is the summertime,” Mitts said. “You have to know how to know where your children are at.”
The violence occurred as Chicago entered its first major heatwave of the summer, reaching a high of 92 degrees Sunday. Temperatures were expected to remain in the 90s for the remainder of the week.
Mass shootings
Seven people were wounded when two gunmen opened fire in Englewood early Monday morning.
All but one of the victims were reported in good condition after the attack in the 6000 block of South Winchester Avenue around 2 a.m., according to Chicago police. A 20-year-old man was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition with a gunshot wound to his neck.
A little over an hour earlier, five people were shot, including a 15-year-old girl in Humboldt Park. The group was in the 900 block of North Pulaski Road around 12:45 a.m. when someone fired shots, police said.
The girl was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital in fair condition with a gunshot wound to the neck.
An 18-year-old woman, a 35-year-old man, a 25-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman also suffered gunshot wounds and were taken to hospitals in fair condition. A 33-year-old woman was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital with a broken ankle, police said.
Two killed in Little Village
Two people were killed in a shooting in Little Village about 5 a.m. Sunday.
A man, 26, was found unresponsive with a gunshot wound to the head in a car in the 3100 block of West 25th Street, police said. He was transported to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Later, a male was taken to Stroger Hospital with gunshot wounds and pronounced dead, police said. The circumstances of the shooting were unknown.
Two fatal shootings on West Pullman block
Two people were killed in separate shootings Sunday in the same block in West Pullman on the Far South Side.
About 2:30 a.m., officers found a man with multiple gunshot wounds in the 11500 block of South LaSalle Street, police said. The man, who was believed to be between 35 and 40 years old, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
About 3:20 p.m. the same day, two men were shot, one fatally, on the same block. They were approached by someone who fired shots at them, Chicago police said.
One man, 34, was struck multiple times and taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead, police said. The Cook County medical examiner’s office identified him as Jeremy Smothers.
The other man, 59, also suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was reported in serious condition at the same hospital, police said.
3 shot, 1 killed in Grand Boulevard
The shooting happened about 12:25 a.m. Sunday in the 4500 block of South Evans Avenue, according to Chicago police.
Christopher Rocquemore, 35, was struck in the chest and taken to University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police and the medical examiner’s office said. Another man, 38, suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and was transported to the same hospital in critical condition, police said.
The third victim, a woman, 26, was shot in the buttocks and taken to the same hospital in good condition, police said.
Preliminary evidence indicates multiple assailants fled on foot, police said. There was no one in custody.
Boy, 13, killed in North Lawndale
The weekend’s first victim was a 13-year-old shot and killed Friday in North Lawndale.
The boy was on a sidewalk in the 1300 block of South Independence Boulevard when someone fired shots just before 8:30 p.m. Friday, striking the boy in the head, police said.
He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.