A father of four was shot to death during a Father’s Day park outing.
More than 70 people were shot, 13 fatally, in Chicago over the holiday weekend, including a father of four who was gunned down at a large family Father’s Day park gathering, according to police.
The violence over the Father’s Day and Juneteenth holidays also left a number of teenagers injured, including a 14-year-old boy who died after being shot multiple times on a street in the Garfield Park neighborhood on the city’s West Side, according to a review by ABC News of weekend incident reports from the Chicago Police Department.
Police officials said at least 75 people were shot across the city in 51 separate incidents that occurred between 6 p.m. on Friday and 11:59 p.m. on Monday.
“Every time I read and hear about another life that is lost because of violence, my heart breaks,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said at a news conference on Monday. “Fifteen-year-olds, 14-year-olds, you all know I’m raising children in Chicago. It hurts.”
The series of shootings came amid declines in both homicides and shootings this year in Chicago compared to 2022. Prior to the weekend, homicides in Chicago were down 7% from the 257 slayings that occurred in the first half of 2022, according to the Chicago Police Department’s crime statistics. Shooting incidents are also down 5% this year compared to this time last year, the crime data shows.
This weekend’s shootings marked one of the most violent holiday weekends this year in Chicago, surpassing Memorial Day weekend when 53 people were shot, 11 fatally, in 42 separate incidents across the city, according to police. At least 31 people were shot last weekend in Chicago, four fatally, in 26 separate incidents, police said.
Father’s Day park shooting
Among those killed this weekend was a 32-year-old father of four, identified as Brian Ross, who was shot to death along with another man during a large family Father’s Day gathering at Smith Park in the Roseland community. Ross’ relatives told ABC station WLS in Chicago that the gunshots were fired from a passing car, killing Ross and the 37-year-old victim, whose name was not immediately released.
“They literally stopped where they were at, opened fire on them, didn’t care about the kids being around or nothing. And, by the grace of God, no kids get hit,” Ross’ wife, Kandace Ross, said. “They didn’t care about nothing or nobody because there were kids out there. There were women out there, there were grandmas, anybody. They just came and just shot it up just so they can, I don’t know, brag about it.”
Cmdr. Tyrone Pendarvis of the Chicago Police Department said the shooting unfolded just before 8 p.m. and that in addition to the two men gunned down, three others were hit by gunfire and treated at a hospital.
“It’s unfortunate today that this occurred because it was a fine day and people just enjoying their family activity, but violence prevails in the city and it’s unfortunate that these five individuals were shot,” Pendarvis said at a news conference.
Car-to-car gunfire
One man was killed and three others were wounded in a shooting Monday in the Ashburn neighborhood on the city’s South Side, police said. The victims were riding in a car when gunmen in another vehicle headed in the opposite direction opened fire, police said. A 20-year-old man, whose name was not immediately released, was shot in the head and pronounced dead at the scene, according to police.
The three other victims, including a 16-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man, were struck by bullets and treated at the University of Chicago Medical Center, according to police. Four guns were recovered at the scene, but no arrests were announced.
Also on Monday, a 32-year-old man was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital after being shot multiple times while driving through the West Garfield neighborhood on the city’s West Side at about 7:25 a.m., according to police. The circumstances of the shooting remained under investigation Tuesday and no arrests have been announced.
Fight prompts fatal shooting
Four men were shot, one fatally, in the Austin neighborhood early Sunday after a fight broke out and a fifth man fighting pulled and gun and opened fire, according to police. The shooting occurred just before 3 a.m. in the Austin neighborhood of the city’s West Side. The victim who died, a 31-year-old man, was shot multiple times and taken to Loyola University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. No arrests were announced.
Among others fatal shootings victims over the weekend were a 48-year-old man, who was discovered Saturday with a gunshot wound to the head in the Woodlawn section of the city’s South Side, and a 58-year-old man who was shot and pronounced dead at the scene also on the city’s South Side, police said.
A 32-year-old man was fatally shot just after 11 p.m. on Sunday in the vestibule of a fast-food restaurant in the West Pullman neighborhood of the city’s South Side when he got into a physical altercation with the unidentified man who shot him. No arrests have been announced.
