A house party on Chicago’s South Side was meant to remember a man who was fatally shot during a carjacking in April, authorities said. But the memorial itself erupted into violence early Sunday after at least two gunmen opened fire, wounding 13 people, four of them critically.
The shooting took place just after 12:30am Chicago time in the Englewood neighbourhood on what was the birthday of the man killed in April, said Tom Ahern, a spokesman for the Chicago Police Department.
About 70 people, including friends and family of the man, were in the two-story house at the time, he said.
The motive for Sunday’s shooting was not immediately clear.
Fred Waller, chief of patrol for the Chicago Police Department, said at a news conference that authorities were still investigating any connection between the April killing and Sunday’s shooting. Two people were being questioned in connection with Sunday’s shooting, Waller said.
He said he did not believe the shooting was gang-related, and that it was likely an “isolated incident” stemming from a “personal dispute.”
“It’s a terrible tragedy and frankly an incredible act of cowardice,” Lori Lightfoot, the mayor of Chicago, said at a later news conference on Sunday.
Waller said at the earlier news conference that the victims had “various gunshot wounds to their bodies.” The youngest victim was 16 years old, he said, and the oldest was about 48. He said four people were critically injured and the rest were in stable condition.
Waller said surveillance footage captured part of the shooting, which took place on the 5700 block of South May Street. After gunshots were fired during a dispute inside the home, people began spilling outside, and two gunmen fired on the crowd, he said.
“It looked like they were just shooting randomly at people as they exited the party,” he said.
Chicago has long struggled with gun violence.
Shootings overall, however, are down this year compared with last year.
The Chicago Tribune, which tracks the number of shooting victims in the city, said 2,594 people had been shot as of Dec 14, 248 fewer than in 2018.
© 2019 New York Times News Service
