7 SHOT DOWNTOWN OVER 3-HOUR SPAN
4 wounded in early morning incident on State Street
Seven people were shot in downtown Chicago over three hours early Sunday, including an attack in River North that wounded four people when someone fired from a car on State Street.
The mass shooting occurred around 1 a.m. in the 400 block of North State Street, the same block where two men were wounded in a drive-by shooting just two weeks ago.
The downtown shootings occurred in the 18th Police District, where murders are up 100% and shootings are up 53% from a year ago.
In all, crime is up 71% in the district, including burglaries, theft, robberies, sexual assaults and motor vehicle thefts.
In Sunday’s River North shooting, a witness told police that someone in a white sedan opened fire while headed south on State Street, wounding three men and a woman, according to police.
A 29-year-old man was hit in the neck, jaw and chest and taken in critical condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital; a 40-year-old woman was shot in the leg and knee and was transported to the hospital in fair condition; a 41-year-old man suffered a graze wound to the leg and was taken to the hospital in good condition; and a 27-year-old man was shot in the foot and taken to Stroger Hospital in good condition.
Police said two persons of interest were being questioned Sunday night.
About half an hour later, a woman was shot as she stood next to her car in the 600 block of West Scott Street on the Near North Side, police said.
The woman, 24, suffered a graze wound to the back of her neck and was taken in good condition to Northwestern.
Around 4:25 a.m., two men were shot in the first block of West Elm Street on the Near North Side, police said.
A 37-year-old man was taken in serious condition to Northwestern, and a 39-year-old man was taken to the hospital in fair condition.
No one was in custody is any of the other downtown attacks.
Across the city, at least 16 people were hit by gunfire in the hours after midnight Sunday, including a 17-year-old girl shot and seriously wounded in the Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side.
No one was in custody in those attacks either.