A Safer City
‘There Will Be Consequences’ Mayor Brandon Johnson Promises After 19 Killed, More Than 100 Shot in Chicago Over Extended Fourth of July Holiday Weekend
Mayor Brandon Johnson promised “consequences” for those participating in gun violence in Chicago following a holiday weekend in which more than 100 people were shot and 19 were killed across the city.
In total, 109 people were shot in 72 separate shooting incidents, according to the Chicago Police Department. The 19 people who were killed between Thursday and Sunday marks a significant jump over the same weekend in 2023, when 11 people in the city were fatally shot.
“We need to ensure that we are holding every single individual accountable for the pain and trauma and torment that they have caused in this city,” Johnson said during a press conference Monday at the Chicago Police Department’s headquarters. “There will be consequences for the violence. We will not let criminal activity ruin and harm our city.”
Johnson said he was “heartbroken” by the violence, saying the numbers of those shot and killed “are not just headlines in the news,” but rather represent “our fellow Chicagoans, our neighbors, family members who’ve lost their lives.”
Lives Lost Over the Weekend
Those killed over the four-day span ranged in age from 8 to 59 years old.
A 34-year-old man was fatally shot in the 6200 block of South Laflin Street at around 1 a.m. Thursday. He was outside when he was shot in the neck by an unidentified man who fled the scene on foot.
Two women and a young boy were killed in a shooting in the 7100 block of South Woodlawn Avenue at around 6:15 a.m. Thursday. Officers responding to a gunshot detection alert and additional calls of shots fired at that location discovered five people shot: two women, ages 45 and 24, who both died; and three children, ages 5, 8 and 8. One of the 8-year-olds, identified by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office as Bryson Orr, was also killed.
A 24-year-old man was shot and killed in the 9300 block of South Lafayette Avenue just after 2 p.m. Thursday. Officers responded to a gunshot detection alert and found the man with multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
A 30-year-old man was killed in the 8400 block of South Kerfoot Avenue at 11 p.m. Thursday. Police said he was standing on the street in a crowd when an unknown man approached and fired shots.
A 35-year-old man was fatally shot in the 6000 block of South Winchester Avenue at around 11:45 p.m. Thursday. He had been in a verbal argument with a person who fired shots and struck the man before fleeing on foot.
At around that same time, a 59-year-old woman was killed in the 900 block of North LeClaire Avenue. She had been standing outside when she was struck by gunfire in the head and hip. A second woman was also shot and was hospitalized in fair condition.
Seven people were shot, one fatally, in a mass shooting that occurred in the 100 block of South Menard Avenue at around 1:45 a.m. Friday. Police responding to a report of shots fired discovered the victims, who had been shot during an exchange of gunfire between two people who fled the scene. A 40-year-old man was killed and six other people were hospitalized in fair to good condition.
A 43-year-old man was fatally shot in the 1200 block of West Washburne Avenue at around 2 a.m. Friday. Around that same time, a 28-year-old man was shot and killed in the 700 block of South Cicero Avenue.
A man and woman were killed in a shooting in the 3400 block of East 87th Street. The pair were found with multiple gunshot wounds just after 7 a.m. Friday and were pronounced dead at the scene.
A 25-year-old man was fatally shot in the 1700 block of East 71st Street at around 8:45 p.m. Saturday. Police said he was walking on the train tracks when he was approached by two unknown men and an exchange of gunfire ensued. The victim was struck multiple times and died at a local hospital.
A 47-year-old man was killed in the 10600 block of South State Street just after 10:30 p.m. Saturday. He was driving in that area when he was shot by an unknown person and crashed into three parked cars.
Two people were shot, one fatally, in the 100 block of East 21st Street at around 11:15 p.m. Saturday. The victims were outside when someone inside a white SUV fired shots. A 26-year-old man was killed and a 25-year-old woman was struck and hospitalized in good condition.
A 25-year-old man was killed in the 5800 block of South Elizabeth Street just before midnight Saturday. Police found the man unresponsive on the driver’s side of a vehicle that had struck a viaduct before it came to a stop. He had been shot multiple times and was pronounced dead on the scene.
A 36-year-old man was found dead inside a home in the 200 block of North Central Avenue at around 11:30 p.m. Sunday. Officers conducting a well-being check discovered the man on the kitchen floor bleeding and unresponsive. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
An 18-year-old man was killed following an altercation with an unknown person just before midnight Sunday in the 700 block of East 89th Place. The victim was in an argument with another person, when that person produced a firearm and fired shots, killing the 18-year-old and wounding a 16-year-old boy.
‘We Have Had Enough’
Johnson said he needs “the entire city to step up to say that we’ve had enough.”
“We all play a role because we are all members of these communities,” he said. “Our city needs each and every one of us to lean and look out for our neighbors, look out for our children, look out for our communities.”
Police Superintendent Larry Snelling implored community members who may have any information about any of the shootings to step forward and aid police in their investigations.
“We need people to step up,” he said. “Please, give us information. And I’ll tell you, most of the cases we’ve been able to solve fairly quickly, it’s because we’ve had outreach from the community.”
The CPD on Tuesday will be running an emergency assistance center at 1312 S. Racine Ave., from 3:30 to 7 p.m., in order to provide victim assistance services to anyone in need, regardless of when they were victims of crime.
Johnson on Monday decried “generations of disinvestment and deep disenfranchisement” in the communities where much of the city’s violence has taken place. He also said it remains “far too easy” to obtain an illegal gun in Chicago, and he’s working with state and federal partners to ensure Chicago is receiving the resources it needs to stem the influx of those illegal weapons.
But he also said those who make the “choice to kill” women and children, as in the South Woodlawn shooting, must be held accountable.
“These are choices that the offenders made and they calculated,” he said. “And I’m here to say emphatically that we have had enough of it.”
A Safer City is supported, in part, by the Sue Ling Gin Foundation Initiative for Reducing Violence in Chicago.
Contact Matt Masterson: @ByMattMasterson | [email protected] | (773) 509-5431
