One of the first weekends with nice weather in months brought violence with it as the toll of wounded in Chicago climbed to over 40 people.
Among the 42 people wounded was an 81-year-old grandmother who was at a gathering to mourn the death of her daughter. Surprisingly, only one death figured in among the high number of shootings over this bloody weekend.
The long list of shootings began with a Friday that saw 11 shootings, most in the Englewood and Gresham Districts.
Friday also brought the serious wounding of the 81-year-old woman. Around 5 PM, Iola and Sylvester Burress were standing on a porch in their Auburn Gresham neighborhood when a white SUV drove by with someone inside firing from the sunroof. 81-year-old Iola was struck four times, once in the wrist, twice in the stomach, and in her arm. The elderly woman is listed in critical condition at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.
Her great-grandson, Sylvester, was wounded in the hip during the same incident.
“This is what Chicago looks forward to. At a moment when that support was needed, we had that taken away, we had family out in the line of fire,” Ronnie Mosely said of the shooting of his grandmother.
“I’m burying my sister and then I’ve got to look at my mother and son being shot,” added Mary Burress, Ronnie Mosely’s aunt.
By Midnight into Saturday morning the city suffered its first fatal shooting of the weekend with a 24-year-old man shot on the near West Side. He was found unresponsive on a sidewalk having been shot in the chest and shoulder.
Saturday continued its bloody toll with a staggering 20 shootings in neighborhoods such as Garfield Park, Humbolt Park, and Roseland.
Sunday dawned with a few less shootings, but still saw 12 incidents by 9PM that evening.
This weekend’s violence brings the year’s total shootings to 833 shootings, with 120 deaths by gunfire, and a total of 141 homicides in the city.
Because of the high death and violence toll in the Windy City, filmmaker Spike Lee came to Chicago only last week to hold a press conference for his upcoming movie to be titled Chiraq–a take on the fact that Chicago is more dangerous than Iraq. Lee came to Chicago to defend his film title against city officials who claim it will hurt the city.
“We have to stop the madness. This is insane. This is nothing to do about Chicago losing tourism. This is not about Chicago losing business,” Lee said at his press conference.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com
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