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25 people shot, one dead, across city
By Peter Nickeas
Tribune reporter
8:36 a.m. CDT, May 27, 2012
More than two dozen people were shot across the city between late Saturday afternoon and early Sunday morning.
One died and several others are in critical condition in shootings that left a total of 25 people injured, according to police. A 6-year-old girl was among the wounded.
Five people were shot on the West Side within 20 minutes of each other in two separate attacks about 2:10 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. Police are investigating the possibility that they're related – they happened about five blocks apart.
A party bus stopped on the 2400 block of West Roosevelt Road in the Lawndale neighborhood to let people into a bar and about 45 minutes later, the driver heard people shooting and hit the floor of his bus.
Only a few women were on the bus when the shots rang out, driver Cash Vait said. He was waiting for his passengers, some of whom were exiting the bar, when someone started shooting. Vait said he heard between three and five shots and dropped to the ground, unable to see who was shooting. Moments later, he heard a second volley of shots to the north.
Three men – 18, 19, and one whose age wasn't available – were hit. Vait said he saw people swarm one man, who dropped in the street.
"I saw three or four guys pumping him, he was wearing a white shirt, and it had blood all over it," Vait said.
Evidence markers littered the area in front of the bar and about seventy five feet to the east, in the street. About a dozen marked and unmarked cars were in the area, parked in a nearby gas station or blocking traffic both ways on Roosevelt Road. Casings were also found inside the bar, police said.
The 19-year-old, identified by the Cook County medical examiner's office as Jaleel Beasley, died at Mount Sinai Hospital at 2:34 a.m. A spokeswoman for that office wasn't able to say where Beasley lived.
The 18-year-old was shot in the leg and is in stable condition at John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, and the other person was dropped off at Stroger hospital with a gunshot wound to the chest, police said.
The bus had picked people up from west suburban Bellwood but was stuck behind crime scene tape and everyone inside had to catch cabs back to the suburb, Vait said.
A couple blocks around the corner north in the 700 block of South Western Avenue, police found two people shot inside an SUV that appeared to have collided with something. The front end of the car was damaged and the driver's side airbag had deployed, though bullet holes weren't visible from the front, back or passenger sides, police said.
A 30-year-old man was shot in the leg and a 28-year-old man was shot in the back and shoulder, police said. Both of the men were taken to Stroger hospital. The younger of the two is in critical condition, and the older is in good condition.
Early Saturday night, a 6-year-old girl and two others were shot in two attacks blocks apart in the Marquette Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side. Police said the child was playing in front of her house on the 6900 block of South Artesian Avenue about 4:15 p.m. when two groups of people on the corner of 68th and Artesian – one in a car, one on the corner – started arguing.
Someone inside the car shot at the group on the corner and missed, instead hitting the girl. The intended targets fled south from 68th Street toward the girl and the car fled east on 68th Street, police said.
The child was shot in the arm and is in good condition at Holy Cross Hospital, Chicago Police Department News Affairs Sgt. Antoinette Ursitti said. The child's mother drove her to Holy Cross Hospital, a few blocks west on California Avenue between 68th and 69th streets.
Less than two hours later and a few blocks away, two men were wounded in what police said may have been a retaliatory attack. The shooting happened shortly before 6 p.m. on the 2500 block of West 71st Street, said police News Affairs Officer Dan O'Brien. According to preliminary reports, both victims drove themselves to Holy Cross Hospital.
One of them, 22, was listed in serious condition with gunshot wounds to his arm, leg and buttocks, O'Brien said. The other man, 25, suffered a wound to his hand. As of 6:45 p.m., no one was in custody for the shootings and Area Central detectives were investigating.
In other shootings:
A 29-year-old woman was shot in the arm about 7:30 p.m. on the 700 block of East 38th Street in the Ida B. Wells/Darrow Homes neighborhood, police said. She heard shots and felt pain, police said. No information was available on her condition or at which hospital she was treated.
By Peter Nickeas
Tribune reporter
8:36 a.m. CDT, May 27, 2012
More than two dozen people were shot across the city between late Saturday afternoon and early Sunday morning.
One died and several others are in critical condition in shootings that left a total of 25 people injured, according to police. A 6-year-old girl was among the wounded.
Five people were shot on the West Side within 20 minutes of each other in two separate attacks about 2:10 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. Police are investigating the possibility that they're related – they happened about five blocks apart.
A party bus stopped on the 2400 block of West Roosevelt Road in the Lawndale neighborhood to let people into a bar and about 45 minutes later, the driver heard people shooting and hit the floor of his bus.
Only a few women were on the bus when the shots rang out, driver Cash Vait said. He was waiting for his passengers, some of whom were exiting the bar, when someone started shooting. Vait said he heard between three and five shots and dropped to the ground, unable to see who was shooting. Moments later, he heard a second volley of shots to the north.
Three men – 18, 19, and one whose age wasn't available – were hit. Vait said he saw people swarm one man, who dropped in the street.
"I saw three or four guys pumping him, he was wearing a white shirt, and it had blood all over it," Vait said.
Evidence markers littered the area in front of the bar and about seventy five feet to the east, in the street. About a dozen marked and unmarked cars were in the area, parked in a nearby gas station or blocking traffic both ways on Roosevelt Road. Casings were also found inside the bar, police said.
The 19-year-old, identified by the Cook County medical examiner's office as Jaleel Beasley, died at Mount Sinai Hospital at 2:34 a.m. A spokeswoman for that office wasn't able to say where Beasley lived.
The 18-year-old was shot in the leg and is in stable condition at John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, and the other person was dropped off at Stroger hospital with a gunshot wound to the chest, police said.
The bus had picked people up from west suburban Bellwood but was stuck behind crime scene tape and everyone inside had to catch cabs back to the suburb, Vait said.
A couple blocks around the corner north in the 700 block of South Western Avenue, police found two people shot inside an SUV that appeared to have collided with something. The front end of the car was damaged and the driver's side airbag had deployed, though bullet holes weren't visible from the front, back or passenger sides, police said.
A 30-year-old man was shot in the leg and a 28-year-old man was shot in the back and shoulder, police said. Both of the men were taken to Stroger hospital. The younger of the two is in critical condition, and the older is in good condition.
Early Saturday night, a 6-year-old girl and two others were shot in two attacks blocks apart in the Marquette Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side. Police said the child was playing in front of her house on the 6900 block of South Artesian Avenue about 4:15 p.m. when two groups of people on the corner of 68th and Artesian – one in a car, one on the corner – started arguing.
Someone inside the car shot at the group on the corner and missed, instead hitting the girl. The intended targets fled south from 68th Street toward the girl and the car fled east on 68th Street, police said.
The child was shot in the arm and is in good condition at Holy Cross Hospital, Chicago Police Department News Affairs Sgt. Antoinette Ursitti said. The child's mother drove her to Holy Cross Hospital, a few blocks west on California Avenue between 68th and 69th streets.
Less than two hours later and a few blocks away, two men were wounded in what police said may have been a retaliatory attack. The shooting happened shortly before 6 p.m. on the 2500 block of West 71st Street, said police News Affairs Officer Dan O'Brien. According to preliminary reports, both victims drove themselves to Holy Cross Hospital.
One of them, 22, was listed in serious condition with gunshot wounds to his arm, leg and buttocks, O'Brien said. The other man, 25, suffered a wound to his hand. As of 6:45 p.m., no one was in custody for the shootings and Area Central detectives were investigating.
In other shootings:
A 29-year-old woman was shot in the arm about 7:30 p.m. on the 700 block of East 38th Street in the Ida B. Wells/Darrow Homes neighborhood, police said. She heard shots and felt pain, police said. No information was available on her condition or at which hospital she was treated.
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