Chicago sees deadliest Memorial Day weekend in years: 9 shot dead, 27 wounded

CHICAGO -- Nine people were killed and 27 others wounded so far in weekend shootings in Chicago, WFLD reported Monday morning, May 25 — the deadliest Memorial Day weekend since 2015, when 12 people were killed.

Despite the state’s stay-at-home order, the weekend’s death toll surpassed last Memorial Day weekend, when seven people were killed and 34 others were injured. In 2018, seven people died and 30 others were wounded. In 2017, six people were killed and 44 others were wounded. In 2016, six people were killed and 56 wounded.

At the beginning of Memorial Day weekend — the unofficial start of summer — Chicago Police Supt. David Brown announced opening a Summer Operations Center to centralize police resources in an effort to tamp down on summer gun violence.

The Sun-Times tally defines the Memorial Day weekend as beginning at 5 p.m. Friday and lasting until 5 a.m. Tuesday.

The most recent fatal shooting was Sunday afternoon in Rosemoor on the South Side. About 3:05 p.m., a male was in a vehicle in an alley in the 400 block of East 103rd Street when someone walked up and fired shots, Chicago police said. He was shot in the face and chest and taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead.

Earlier Sunday morning, a man was killed in Humboldt Park on the Northwest Side.

About 7:45 a.m., a ShotSpotter notification alerted police of the shooting in the 1000 block of North Drake Avenue, police said. Officers found the man, 21, with a gunshot wound to his head and notified Chicago firefighters. Dariontae Adams was taken to Stroger Hospital and pronounced dead, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.

A 45-year-old man was killed several hours before that in Grand Crossing on the South Side.

He was standing on the sidewalk at 3:52 a.m. in the 7800 block of South Ingleside Avenue when someone fired shots from a black SUV, according to police. He was hit in the left side and later died at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Another man was killed late Saturday night in Humboldt Park on the Northwest Side.

The 28-year-old man was found on the sidewalk with a gunshot wound to the head at 11:08 p.m. in the 3400 block of West North Avenue, police said. Two males were seen running from the scene. The man who was shot, identified as Alejandro Castro of Humboldt Park, was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital, authorities said.

About an hour before that, a teenage boy was shot to death in Washington Park on the South Side.

Someone approached 16-year-old Darnell Fisher about 10:05 p.m. in the 6100 block of South Indiana Avenue and shot him in the chest and arm, authorities said. The boy was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center and pronounced dead. He lived in Washington Park.

A person thought to be the shooter was taken into custody blocks away in the 5900 block of South Prairie after leading officers on a chase, police said. A weapon was recovered. That person was later released without being charged.

Several hours before that, another man was found shot to death in Longwood Manor on the South Side.

Keith Moore, 32, was discovered in a home about 7:46 p.m. in the 1300 block of West 97th Place with a gunshot wound to the armpit, authorities said. Moore, who lived in Bronzeville, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Earlier that evening, a man was killed and three others were wounded in Lawndale on the West Side.

About 6:25 p.m., a group of people was outside a home in the 3900 block of West Grenshaw Street when someone in a vehicle pulled up and opened fire, authorities said. Antonio Gasaway, 35, was struck in the chest and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Another man, 23, was shot in the arm, police said, while a 26-year-old man was struck in the leg. Both were taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in fair condition. A fourth man, 43, was grazed on the arm and refused medical attention.

Saturday morning, a 27-year-old man was shot to death in Englewood on the South Side.

He was found unresponsive with a gunshot wound to his abdomen at 6:05 a.m. at a home in the 5900 block of South Justine Street, police said. He was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The medical examiner’s office identified him as Jamal Daveny of Bronzeville.

A man was found shot to death in the weekend’s first homicide Friday night in Englewood.

Tobias McNeal, 41, was discovered lying on the sidewalk about 11:26 p.m. in the 5600 block of South Paulina Street with gunshot wounds throughout his body, authorities said. McNeal, who lived in the same neighborhood, was pronounced dead at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

In nonfatal attacks:

At least 16 other people were wounded by gunfire in Chicago.

Last weekend saw six people killed and 32 others wounded in gun violence throughout the city.