CHICAGO—21 people were shot and wounded Wednesday in shootings across the city, the Chicago Sun Times first reported.
In one attack that occurred in Gresham, on the South Side, six people were shot and hurt. According to a report from the Chicago police, a group of people “at a large gathering” we outside about 11:30 p.m., when someone fired shots. A 29-year-old was struck in the neck and rushed to the hospital. Another man, 37, was struck in the head and also taken to the hospital. Both are in critical condition.
The other victims include a 17-year-old boy whose head was grazed by a bullet, while two other men, 21 and 29, were struck in the back and legs. Another man, 28, was shot in the arm. All four were taken to the hospital, but they remain in fair condition.
In a separate incident, a child, 9, and his mother were critically wounded in a shooting that occurred in Austin, on the West Side, the Chicago Sun Times reported. Allegedly, the two were on a sidewalk about 1:15 p.m. on North Central Avenue, when two gunmen exited a vehicle and opened fire in broad daylight.
By the end of the day on August 19, the Chicago Police Department reported a total of twenty one people were injured across Chicago in similar incidents.
Police have alleged that not all gunshot victims are not always the intended targets. In a press briefing on August 19, Chicago Police Department’s Chief of Detective Brendan Deenihan explained that the crime rate has been rising, and as a result many more innocent people at the scene of these crimes are becoming victims simply by being bystanders:
“And once again, offenders come out, shooting at someone who they think are the intended targets, who they might have [had] a prior altercation with, but it’s the wrong group of people, and a 12-year-old suffers the gunshot wounds,” Deenihan said.
