Weekend violence in Chicago stretched into the Labor Day holiday as three people, including a 16-year-old boy, were killed and nearly a dozen others were wounded Monday.
Maurice Knowles was sitting on the porch of his Roseland home in the 10500 block of South LaSalle Street about 5:30 p.m. Monday when a gunman opened fire from a nearby gangway. DNAinfo Chicago reports the 16-year-old boy was shot in the chest, while a man in his 20s sitting nearby was grazed.
Knowles was taken to an area hospital where he later died. Police surrounded the building immediately after the shooting and had a suspect in custody before the teen passed away.
A little more than an hour after Knowles was shot, 27-year-old Frederick Brown was shot several times in the Englewood neighborhood. Around 8 p.m., officers found Brown unresponsive in an alley near the 5700 block of South Princeton Avenue. He was later pronounced dead.
Monday's first fatal shooting came just after 2 p.m. in the West Woodlawn neighborhood as several residents were outside barbecuing. Jerome Wood, 21, was shot in the head in the 6600 block of South Rhodes Avenue where the Sun-Times says he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The shooting left many of the neighbors shocked, scared and worried for the safety of children playing outside.
“I came out and walked over and saw the man laying in the yard with a hole in his head, and blood coming out of everywhere,” said 25-year-old Keyshia Wilson, who has lived on the block for eight years. “I can’t believe this happened a couple of doors down. I’m still in shock. I can’t believe it.”
Combined with earlier shootings, a total of eight people were killed and at least 25 more were wounded in holiday weekend gun violence since Friday afternoon.
Despite the violent holiday weekend, Chicago's top cop Supt. Garry McCarthy said the city marked its lowest murder rate since 1965 and has made progress since notching 500 murders in 2012.
"Everybody said it's the third quarter during the summer that's really going to measure how we're doing," McCarthy told NBC Chicago, "and in June we were down in shootings and murders, July the same thing, and in August the same thing."
Related
Before You Go
