March 29, 2024

Chicago erupts in July 4 gunfire — with girl, 7, and boy, 14, among those killed

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A 7-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy were among those fatally shot Saturday night as Chicago erupted in gun violence on Independence Day.The evening included two attacks that each had eight victims, the Chicago Tribune reported.The girl, identified by her family as Natalie Wallace, was outside her grandmother’s home at a Fourth of July party in the city’s Austin neighborhood around 7 p.m. when a vehicle pulled up and three men got out and started shooting indiscriminately, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.The girl was shot in her head and pronounced dead after she was rushed to a hospital, police said, according to Chicago’s FOX 32.A 32-year-old man shot during the same attack was in fair condition, FOX 32 reported.“Tonight, a 7-year-old girl in Austin joined a list of teenagers and children whose hopes and dreams were ended by the barrel of a gun,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot wrote on Twitter. “We cannot grow numb to this. We are making progress in slowing shootings, but we have to do better, every single one of us.”A 34-year-old woman, a 31-year-old man and a 20-year-old man were also killed earlier Saturday, WLS-TV reported.CHICAGO TO DEPLOY 1,200 ADDITIONAL POLICE OFFICERS OVER CONCERNS OF A VIOLENT JULY 4 WEEKENDThe 14-year-boy was killed in the city’s Englewood neighborhood, in an attack that left three other people dead and four wounded, including boys ages 11 and 15, the Tribune reported.Four men had walked up to a gathering and started firing shots. They fled and have not been arrested, the newspaper reported.Saturday was the third weekend in a row a child under 10 has been fatally shot. Last weekend, Sincere A. Gaston, 1, was killed while riding in his mother’s car and the weekend before, Mekhi James, 3, was fatally shot while in his stepfather’s SUV. The city deployed 1,200 additional police officers who the mayor said would be working with violence prevention groups and focus on getting illegal guns off the street over the holiday weekend, according to the Sun-Times.CHICAGO SEES ITS DEADLIEST DAY IN 60 YEARS WITH 18 MURDERS IN 24 HOURS: REPORT “It’s not just on the police department. Not just on the fire department. Not just on elected officials,” Lightfoot said, according to WLS. “All of us have to embrace our notion of community and think about what we can do, each of us in our own way, to make our communities safe and healthy and vibrant.”The two weekends heading into the long holiday this year ended with a combined total of 111 people being shot in Chicago, 24 fatally.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPThe investigations are ongoing.
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