Chicago recorded its most violent weekend this year with 104 people shot, 14 fatally, including a 3-year-old boy.
The violence occurred between Friday evening to Monday morning, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
The weekend saw more shootings, but fewer fatalities than last weekend in May when 85 people were shot, 24 fatally, making Chicago’s deadliest weekend in years.
Some of the shootings seemed random, the Sun-Times reported, noting several children were killed in the violence.
A 3-year-old boy walking home from a barbershop with his dad was the youngest victim.
“A line was crossed,” said the Rev. Ira Acree of Greater St. John Bible Church, according to the Chicago Tribune. “This is a horrific Father’s Day. This 3-year-old baby lost his life. … I could not pastor this community and not say something.”
Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said the shootings were tearing apart families and neighborhoods.
“Good men throughout this city should be celebrating with their families on a beautiful day, but instead, a number of Chicagoans will be spending Father’s Day grieving the loss of their children,” he said at a press conference Sunday.
“These kids are not criminals,” Chicago Police Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan said of the kids who had been shot. Speaking at the same press conference, Chief Deenihan said the kids were not gang members.
“They have nothing to do with the ongoing disputes out there, and they just get gunned down for no reason at all,” he said.
Among the shootings was a 64-year-old woman who was hit in the arm by gunfire while sitting inside her home.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a Democrat, assailed the violence in her city.
“Our city’s collective heart breaks to hear the unfathomable news of a 3-year-old boy who was shot and killed tonight on Chicago’s West Side,” she wrote on Twitter. “There are simply no words to describe such a heinous, unconscionable act of cowardice to shoot at a toddler.”
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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