Chicago was plagued by bloodshed over the long Fourth of July holiday weekend, with 109 people shot and 19 killed, authorities said.
There were a total of 74 shootings in the Windy City from Wednesday, July 3, to Sunday, July 7 — including three mass shootings, according to data released by police.
The youngest victim was 8-year-old Bryson Orr, who was killed along with two female relatives in a shooting at a home in the Grand Crossing neighborhood on the morning of July 4th. shooting, NBCChicago reported.
On Friday, eight people were shot in a mass shooting in Chicago’s Little Italy neighborhood, including teenagers and a 74-year-old woman. Police said preliminary information indicates that there was an exchange of gunfire between two unidentified criminals who fled the scene.
Last year, 11 people died and 62 were injured over the holiday weekend, according to NBC Chicago.
Mayor Brandon Johnson condemned the violence at a news conference Monday, saying, “When this reckless violence devastates our city at this magnitude, we are losing a piece of Chicago’s soul.”
The bullet attack is not exclusive to the city. Violence and mass shootings tend to increase in the summer months and the Fourth of July has historically had the highest number of mass shootings over the past decade, followed by July 5th, data from the Gun Violence Archive shows, by The Associated Press.
Johnson called for more federal resources to support communities suffering from the carnage. The mayor also asked community members to look out for each other and come forward with the names of the perpetrators.
“Our city needs each and every one of us to lean in and take care of our neighbors, take care of our children,” he said.
“Let me be emphatically clear: this is a choice. It is a choice to kill. The choice to kill women. A choice to kill children, a choice to kill elderly people. These are choices that offenders made and calculated.”
Chicago Police Department Superintendent Larry Snelling noted the challenges of police work during the holiday weekend.
“We look at the celebratory days of the year, the Fourth of July and other similar days, where groups come together, large groups come together. And sometimes this violence arises from petty arguments. People who have been together all day come together as a group, drink, tempers flare and people decide they are going to expose their differences through violence, especially gun violence,” he said.
An emergency assistance center will be set up Tuesday in Fosco Park, where community organizations will provide support resources to local residents in distress, including crisis counseling.
Johnson noted that the violence did not happen “in a vacuum” but is the result of generations of disinvestment and profound disenfranchisement.
He also emphasized that Chicago’s streets are full of illegal guns that need to be removed.
“We also need to redouble our efforts to take guns off our streets. When a 16-year-old has access to an AK-47, the violence began long before this weapon reached the hands of young people across the city and across the country.”
According to Chicago police crime statistics, during the week ending June 30, shooting incidents fell 7% compared to the same week last year. Additionally, shootings are down 27% year-to-date compared to 2021. However, in the last 28 days before June 30, shooting incidents are up 12% compared to the same period last year.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
