As the East Gets Snow, Chicago Gets Storm of Shootings– 20 Shot, 4 Killed

REUTERS/JIM YOUNG
REUTERS/JIM YOUNG

As the East Coast was buried in snow, flooding, and freezing temperatures, Chicago was blessed with dry streets. But while the Windy City missed out on the snow, and despite that it was certainly cold, Chicago was buried in the all-too-familiar gang violence that visits the city daily.

This weekend’s violence left 20 shot and 4 dead.

Friday started off light, with only six shootings and no fatalities. But despite the chilly temperatures, Saturday came roaring in with 16 shootings, three of those becoming fatal.

The first death occurred just after 2AM on Saturday, when a man was shockingly shot to death in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency hotel at McCormick Place in the South Loop. The hotel is one that generally caters to Chicago’s exposition and convention-goers, so a shooting in such a place shocked many in the city.

Courtney Taylor, 25, was participating in a birthday celebration with a group of several men in the hotel lobby when a man opened fire on the group, firing half a dozen shots. Taylor was struck several times and died at the scene.

Two more were killed Saturday—one at 7AM in the Garfield Park neighborhood and the second in Roseland at around 10:45.

The Hyatt had more troubles during this violent weekend, too. Early on Sunday, a woman was found dead from an apparent suicide at the establishment.

In addition, early on Sunday, a 20-year-old woman was shot near Navy Pier just north of the city’s Loop area as she sat in her car with a man.

The woman was shot in the leg, and her companion—who escaped the shooting unharmed—drove her to the hospital for treatment.

This weekend saw a continuation of cases of multiple victim shootings, as well. One incident featuring multiple victims occurred on Friday when two victims were shot in the same incident at 2PM. Additionally, two separate incidents featuring two victims each happened on Saturday.

Already for 2016, 233 people have been shot with 37 of those shootings resulting in a death. The number of shootings for January this year are already about double what they were at this time last year.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston, or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.

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