Chicago police say a 7-year-old girl at a family party and a 14-year-old boy were among five people shot and killed in the city during Fourth of July celebrations
CHICAGO — A 7-year-old girl at a family party and a teenage boy were among five people shot and killed in Chicago on the Fourth of July, police said.
In one shooting, just before midnight Saturday, four males opened fire on a large gathering in the street in the Englewood neighborhood, police spokesman Tom Ahern said. Two males died at the scene and two more, including a 14-year-old boy, died at a hospital, Ahern said.
Four others were injured; One is in critical condition and the other three are in fair condition, Ahern said. The four attackers fled the scene. No one was arrested.
The 7-year-old girl was fatally shot in the head while standing on the sidewalk at her grandmother’s house during a Fourth of July party around 7 p.m. in the Austin neighborhood, police said.
Suspects got out of a car and began shooting, police said. No one was has been arrested.
“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 said on Twitter late 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.”
A 32-year-old man was injured in the shooting and was in fair condition.
The shootings this weekend that killed young people followed tragedy the weekend before when victims included a 1-year-old boy riding in a car with his mother and a 10-year-old girl who was inside her home when a bullet fired a block away pierced a window and struck her in the head as she sat on a couch.
In response to violence that has occurred since Memorial Day weekend, police said they would have 1,200 extra officers on the streets for this holiday weekend.
