40 shot, 7 fatally, in violent weekend in Chicago
A violent weekend across Chicago left at least 40 people shot, seven fatally, including at least four teenagers, one just 14 years old, police said Monday morning.
The shootings erupted at a block party and a large park gathering. One man was shot dead sitting in his car at a stoplight and another was gunned down as he stood on a sidewalk, according to authorities.
Police investigated 33 separate shooting incidents, including the seven fatalities, between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Sunday, according to the Chicago Police Department.
The youngest victim killed in the weekend shootings was identified by the Cook County Medical Examiner's office as 14-year-old Rayjohn Harshaw, who relatives said was to start his first day of high school on Monday.
Harshaw was shot in the head and chest just before 7 p.m. Saturday on a street near his home on the South Side of the city, police said. The boy was taken to Comer Children's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead around 8:40 p.m. Saturday, officials said.
No arrests have been announced in the boy's killing.
"They took him from the world because he was going to be somebody," Harshaw's aunt, Athena Harshaw, told ABC Chicago station WLS-TV. "He was only 14. He didn't even make 16. He didn't do 18. He didn't go to college. He didn't even get to walk in school."
The weekend violence came amid slight decreases in shootings and homicides in Chicago compared to 2022. Shooting incidents in the city have declined 10% from this time last year and homicides are down 6% from 2022, according to the latest Chicago Police Department crime data.
The last victim police added to the deadly weekend tally was a man, 30 to 40 years old, who died after being shot multiple times in the West Garfield Park neighborhood, according to a police incident report. A witness told police that a gunman walked up to the victim, opened fire and fled the scene on foot. No arrests have been announced in the homicide.
A separate fatal shooting unfolded around 3:36 a.m. Sunday, when a 24-year-old man was killed while sitting in a car at a traffic light, according to police. The shooting occurred on the city's North Side when a white SUV pulled up alongside the victim and someone inside the vehicle opened fire, hitting the driver multiple times, according to police. The victim was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to police.
No suspect or suspects have been identified in the fatal shooting.
Slain teen volunteered at an anti-violence program
In a homicide on Saturday, a 17-year-old girl, identified as Ashuntice Wilburn, was fatally shot while attending a block party held at Galewood Park in the city's North Austin neighborhood, according to a police incident report. A 16-year-old boy also attending the block party was hospitalized with gunshot wounds to the leg, police said.
Antoinette Coleman, who was at the block party with her grandchildren, told WLS-TV that when she heard the gunshots, "The first thing I wanted to do was grab my grand babies and cover them."
"We can't even go to the park, because the parks are not safe," Coleman said.
No arrests have been announced for Wilburn's homicide.
"When I look back over her life, she was just starting her life," Wilburn's grandmother, Patty Ringo, told WLS-TV.
Ringo said she and Wilburn volunteered in an anti-violence program at a local church, and that her granddaughter had been excited about beginning her senior year of high school on Monday.
"We were planning, you know, all kinds of activities, this year. She had a birthday coming up, on October 31. We had made plans to go to Miami," Ringo said.
4 teens shot at large gathering
Homicide detectives are also investigating the slaying of a 34-year-old man, who was gunned down in a drive-by shooting early Saturday morning as he stood on a sidewalk in the Washington Heights neighborhood on the South Side, according to police. Investigators were continuing to work Monday on identifying suspects in the homicide.
Four teenagers suffered bullet wounds on Friday night at another large gathering when two assailants walked up and opened fire on the crowd, apparently without warning, according to police. The shooting unfolded around 11:50 p.m. in the city's North Lawndale neighborhood on the city's West Side, police said. The victims ranged in age from 17 to 19. No arrests have been announced in the episode.
In another fatal shooting Friday night, an 18-year-old man suffered multiple bullet wounds when someone opened fire on a car he was a passenger in, according to police. The shooting occurred just before 10 p.m. in the West Garfield Park neighborhood, police said. The teenage victim was shot in the head, cheek and abdomen and taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
A motive for the shooting remains under investigation and no arrests have been announced.
Also on Friday night, a 16-year-old boy was killed when someone shot him multiple times around 8 p.m. as he walked on a sidewalk in the Garfield Ridge neighborhood in the southwest part of the city. The boy was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to police. No arrests were announced.
