Chicago police First Deputy Superintendent Kevin Navarro told reporters this latest round of gun deaths in the 2600 block of West 46th Place was “another brazen act of gang violence,” according to the Chicago Tribune.
The group of people, a mix of men and women, were gathered at a makeshift memorial for a man identified by the Chicago Medical Examiner’s Office as Daniel Cardova, age 26, who lived in Brighton Park. He was shot and killed about 4:30 a.m. Sunday in the 2500 block of West 46th Place, according to police. Cardova was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:42 a.m. This shooting involved an assault rifle, say police.
Navarro said two masked men carrying assault rifles came out of an alley and open fired on the group at the memorial, killing one man about 25 who was dead on the scene, and a 29-year-old woman who died of her wounds at Stroger Hospital, Eight additional people, most of them adults, were taken to area hospitals where their wounds were treated, police officials said.
Looking at the weekend, from Friday night through Sunday night, The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting a total of six people died from gunshot wounds and 26 people were wounded by gunshots over the weekend. Chicago surpassed the 1,000 shootings mark in late April and is on target to hit the 200 mark for homicides.
The first fatal shooting of the weekend occurred around 4:45 p.m. Friday in the Bronzeville neighborhood. A 19-year-old man walked into his apartment, followed by three men who repeated shot him in the head. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 5:05 p.m.
The latest weekend nonfatal shooting occurred at 7:23 p.m. Sunday in the East Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago. Two men, one 23 and the other, 22, were critically wounded when a vehicle drove by and someone inside fired a gun at them.
On Sunday afternoon, Alderman Raymond Lopez told reporters this was the second time in a week he has met with the press to talk about the violence in the streets. “Last week, we’ve seen assault rifles used on police, today they’re used on gang members in the Brighton Park community in broad daylight, on a Sunday,” he said.
“It’s time for each and every one of us to start looking at what’s going on on our blocks — identifying who is the gang member, who are the drug dealers and who is supporting them in our community.” Lopez also said people have to stop harboring criminals within the neighborhood because more innocent lives will be lost.