Chicago shootings claim at least 5 lives over Labor Day weekend
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Chicago’s crime rates have lived up to their national notoriety over Labor Day weekend, with shootings killing at least five people and wounding more.
The dead included a man, 18, shot in the chest and head while standing on a sidewalk; a man, 32, shot in the neck by a man wearing a mask; and a woman, 30, struck in the back of the head while standing in an alley, WMAQ reported.
Killed on Sunday were a 25-year-old man who was caught in a crossfire in Rogers Park on the city's North Side, and a 41-year-old man who was shot in the chest on the far South Side, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Victims of nonfatal shootings on Sunday included an 11-year-old girl and a 17-year-old girl, the Sun-Times report said.
"My baby got shot!" a woman could be heard screaming at the scene where the teenager was struck, the newspaper reported.
Also on Sunday, a 17-year-old boy was found critically injured with two gunshot wounds to his head, police told the paper.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
No suspects were reported to be in custody.
The weekend started with an apparent lull in violent crime — but it didn’t last.
For more than 15 hours Saturday, no one was reported shot in Chicago, the Chicago Tribune reported. Then, the bullets started to fly.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
By the end of last weekend, three people were shot dead and 25 others were wounded, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
The majority of Chicago shootings have unfolded on the city’s south and west sides, as Fox News previously reported — areas marked not only by deteriorating neighborhoods, but also by a lack of quick, efficient emergency care.
The violence in Chicago, police have said, is fueled primarily by gangs. However, many people who live in these neighborhoods describe the shootings as a byproduct of individuals facing and normalizing poverty, as well as a lack of resources. Locals also say they’ve been frustrated with the pace of progress in criminal investigations.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Of the 75 people who were shot during a bloodbath on the Aug. 3-5 weekend, only one person has been charged in connection to any of the shootings.
Police reported via Twitter Friday night that violence was down in August compared with a year ago.
Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tweeted Sunday morning that, “Since Friday at 6pm through noon Sunday, police have taken 65 illegal guns off city streets & made 30 arrests for gun charges including illegal possession.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Police said the department plans to hire an additional 300 homicide detectives by the end of 2018.
Fox News’ Barnini Chakraborty contributed to this report.