CHICAGO (AP) — An argument in a house on Chicago’s South Side erupted into gunfire early Tuesday, leaving four people dead and four more injured, police said.
The shooting happened at about 5:45 a.m. in the Englewood neighborhood, police said. No one has been arrested and police provided few details about the shooting. None of the victims appeared to be juveniles.
At a news conference Tuesday morning, Police Superintendent David Brown said three of the victims who died were female and one was male. The department earlier reported that all four were female.
Detectives were still trying to determine if there was more than one shooter and said they were trying to track down witnesses, police spokesman Tom Ahern said. A 2-year-old child was removed safely from the house and placed in protective custody, he said.
Authorities did not immediately release the identities and ages of the four who died.
The four injured included two men who were shot in the back of the head. Police were unable to provide information on their conditions. A 23-year-old man who was shot in the back and a woman who suffered an unspecified gunshot wound were both in critical condition, police said.
Brown said detectives have not had a chance to interview the four surviving victims, who were being treated at hospitals. But he said a witness told police about hearing gunshots at about 2 a.m. and that thedepartment’s ShotSpotter gunfire detection system picked up the sound of gunfire at that time. Brown did not provide any details about whether that gunfire was related to the shooting at the house. The witness told police more gunshots rang out at about 5:45 a.m.
Brown also said the police received several calls about disturbances at the residence where the bodies were found, but did not elaborate. He said a high-capacity magazine and shell casings were recovered from the scene and that there was no apparent forced entry into the house.
The shooting comes a few days after a woman was killed and nine other people were injured when two men opened fire on a group standing on a sidewalk in Chatham, also on the city’s South Side. Police said no one has been arrested in that shooting. Several mass shootings over the weekend stoked concerns about a spike in U.S. gun violence heading into the summer, as coronavirus restrictions ease and more people are free to socialize.
A database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University that tracks mass killings — defined as four or more dead, not including the perpetrator — shows Tuesday’s shooting in Chicago is the 18th mass killing, of which 17 were shootings, so far this year in the U.S.
Englewood has long been one of the most violent communities in Chicago, and the city has experienced more homicides this year compared with the same period last year. There were 282 homicides in Chicago as of June 13, compared with 269 during the same period last year.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot told reporters that the city needs federal to help combat violence and said the White House had reached out to offer assistance Tuesday morning.
“We must acknowledge this for what it is — a tragedy that’s ripped apart families and inflicted intense trauma,” Lightfoot said.
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This story has been corrected based on new information from the police to show that three females and one male were fatally shot, not four women.
