According to data maintained by the Chicago Sun-Times, a toddler and four teenagers were among those shot to death between Friday evening and Monday morning, Seven other juveniles were also struck by gunfire.
The horrific number of shootings over this Father’s Day weekend marks this as the most shootings in a single weekend this year. And this weekend’s shootings come just a few weeks after 24 people were killed and at least 61 others were shot during Chicago’s most violent weekend in modern history.
Mekhi James, a three-year-old, was shot and killed while sitting in a car with his father in the south Austin neighborhood. Police say the 27-year-old father was the intended target in the fatal shooting of his son, but he refuses to talk, according to ABC News. Community leaders are offering a $100,000 reward for information in the Mekhi’s killing.
Other young shooting victims this weekend included a 13-year-old girl who died after being shot in the neck while watching TV in her home, and two boys, ages 17 and 16, killed in a separate shooting on Saturday.
Police Superintendent David Brown says the common thread in all the shooting can be tied to “gangs, guns, and drugs.” He added, “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.”
