3 Killed, 10 More Shot During Chicago Labor Day

Sept. 03--Thirteen people have been shot, three of them fatally, in shootings since mid-morning Monday on Chicago's South and West sides, according to authorities.

Five of the people shot were teenagers, including a 16-year-old boy shot in the chest as he sat on a front porch in the Far South Side's Fernwood neighborhood.

Police said someone opened fire about 5:30 p.m. from a gangway across the street, striking the 16-year-old as he sat on a porch in the 10500 block of South LaSalle Street. A 22-year-old man sitting nearby sustained a graze wound to the back but declined medical attention.

The boy was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was later pronounced dead.

After the shooting a possible suspect holed up a building in the 300 block of West 106th Place, authorities said. Police surrounded the building, and the person was in custody by about 7 p.m.

About an hour after the barricade situation ended, police in the Englewood neighborhood found a 27-year-old man shot multiple times in an alley near the 5700 block of South Princeton Avenue.

The man was pronounced dead at John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County.

Earlier in the afternoon, a 21-year-old man was shot in the head in the West Woodlawn neighborhood on the South Side, authorities said. The man was declared dead on the scene at 2:27 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

According to the Chicago Fire Department's news office, the man was shot about 2 p.m. in the 6600 block of South Rhodes Avenue. He was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center for final pronouncement, officials said.

Chicago police detectives and beat officers used red and yellow tape to cordon off a two-flat style greystone in the middle of the block. Neighbors said the victim was shot outside the building and may have collapsed in a vacant lot adjacent to it.

Police placed several yellow evidence cards beside bullet casings that were in front of the building and the lot.

One neighbor said an ambulance sat at the crime scene for about 30 minutes before taking away the victim.

Meanwhile, a few families on the block could be seen barbecuing in their backyard evidently to celebrate the Labor Day holiday.

David Westin, 33, who lives across the street from the shooting scene, said he was inside his apartment building when he heard the gunshots. He then heard a female voice screaming that a friend of hers was just shot.

Chicago police haven't released much information on the shooting as of Monday afternoon, but much of the gunfire is sparked by gang rivalries that make the Woodlawn community among the most dangerous parts of the city.

Still, Westin hadn't seen much violence in his neighborhood since moving into his apartment in June. He said the police are usually out in full force.

The shooting has only reinforce his desire to move by next month, he said.

"I heard of gang activity around here, but it's the first time I've seen it up close," he said from his front porch, observing the detectives and beat officers walking around behind the yellow and red crime tape.

Darlene Sneed, 55, lives in the two-story building police cordoned off. She had just got home from her bartending job a few blocks away when she saw the red and yellow tape.

Sneed, how has lived in the building for about a year and half, burst into tears because doesn't know who the victim is. But she's afraid to find out.

"I don't know what friend it is of my great-niece. But I know it's got to be somebody I know because I can feel it in my heart that it's someone I know," a visibly distraught Sneed said at the crime scene, her right hand twitching at times. "I know a lot of these kids out here and...it don't make no sense when things happen around here."

Sneed said shootings happen regularly on her block and its surrounding blocks. Sneed was told by a detective around 4 p.m. that it would be a few hours before she's allowed inside her apartment building.

"From 71st (Street) to 61st (Street). King Drive to Cottage Grove (Avenue), it's always nothing but all this gang-banging stuff," a visibly distraught Sneed said at the crime scene, her right had twitching at times. "It's crazy this world is really crazy."

Her friend Willie Crump, 55, who also lives on the block, consoled Sneed, placing her arm around her back. Crump said she heard five gunshots while sitting at a table on her unit. She said she's heard gunfire everyday in her neighborhood.

"If it's not here it's on Saint Lawrence (Avenue), Eberhart (Avenue), Rhodes, Cottage Grove, Evans (Avenue). It's just...It's disgusting," said Crump, shaking her head in frustration.

Kia McNeal was sitting on her front porch at the corner of Marquette Road and Rhodes Avenue --where a Chicago police POD camera is affixed to a light pole--when she heard a number of gunshots. At the same time, her 2-year-old daughter was about to walk down the front steps of her apartment building, McNeal said.

That prompted McNeal to usher her daughter quickly into her apartment.

"They can't even come outside and play," McNeal, 28, said of her daughter and other children who live on the block. "We're on the corner in the mix of this stuff."

In other shootings:

-- A 20-year-old man was shot in the abdomen about 2 a.m. in the 4700 block of North Central Park Avenue, News Affairs Officer Amina Greer said, citing preliminary information. The man was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in critical condition.

-- Two teens, one male and onefemale, were shot while sitting on a porch in the 8500 block of South Paulina Street, Greer said.

A passenger stepped out of a dark-colored sedan and opened fire, striking a 16-year-old girl in the leg and an 18-year-old man in the arm, according to police. The man also sustained a graze wound to the ankle.

Both teens were brought to Little Company of Mary Hospital, where their conditions were stabilized.

-- A 16-year-old boy and and a 22-year-old man were shot about 10:25 p.m. in the 4800 block of South Winchester Avenue, authorities said. The boy was struck in the chest and taken to Stroger, and the man was taken to Sinai after being struck in the leg and face. Both were listed in serious condition.

-- About 10 p.m., a 17-year-old boy was shot in the wrist during a drive-by shooting the 7400 block of South Chappel Avenue. Someone fired shots from a dark-colored SUV, which fled westbound, police said. The boy was taken to Jackson Park Hospital, where he was listed in good condition.

-- About 2:30 p.m., a man was shot in the 6300 block of South King Drive and taken to Stroger in critical condition after having been shot twice, O'Brien said.

-- Earlier, a 19-year-old man was shot in the leg in the 4200 block of West 15th Street about 9:55 a.m., said News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli. The man told police he heard shots and felt he had been shot. The man's condition had been stabilized at Mount Sinai Hospital, Mirabelli said.

-- About 6:30 p.m., a 36-year-old man was shot in the 11700 block of South Marshfield Avenue, according to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Chief Joe Roccasalva. He was taken to Christ Medical Center in serious-to-critical condition.

Check back for updates.

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