Chicago Sun Times
July 7, 2014
Statistics may show Chicago’s homicide rate is down to levels not seen since the 1960s, but parts of the city are still a war zone, residents of the South and West sides said after another bloody Fourth of July weekend.
By 7 a.m. Monday, 11 people had been killed and at least 60 others wounded in holiday weekend shootings across the city since Thursday night. Two more were shot dead by police.
Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy, meanwhile, scheduled a Monday morning news conference to discuss gun violence.
While the boom of fireworks could be heard across the city over the weekend, in places like West Englewood, South Shore and Austin, the bang of gunshots seemed almost as common.
Nearly all of those killed were black or Hispanic men age 35 or younger. Two — Shaquille Ross, 18, and Kezon Lamb, 19 — were teenagers. One was a woman. And details of the most recent shooting victim was not yet available Monday morning.
The lastest of those fatal shootings happened early Monday when a man was shot several times in the South Chicago neighborhood.