Chicago violence: 15 people shot at funeral on South Side

Chicago police Wednesday morning blamed the retaliatory nature of Chicago’s violence for a mass shooting at a funeral Tuesday on the South Side that left at least 15 people wounded.

The shooting, Chicago’s worst in recent memory, has once again put the city in an uncomfortable national spotlight as violence has spiked to levels unseen in years. It comes as the city gears up to receive a beefed up presence of federal agents from the Trump administration in response to the violence and as the Police Department plans to start a citywide unit to respond to flare-ups of shootings.

“These victims were all wounded when shots were fired as family members and friends gathered to grieve the loss of a loved one who was killed in a drive-by shooting,” Superintendent David Brown said of the shooting in the Gresham neighborhood, during a news conference at City Hall. “The cycle of violence in Chicago, someone gets shot, which prompts someone else to pick up a gun. This same cycle repeats itself over and over and over again. This cycle is fueled by street gangs, guns and drugs.”

“In the case of the funeral shooting, rival factions repeated this cycle. Too many people in Chicago have been touched by gun violence. And the response too often is picking up a gun to seek vengeance,” Brown said. “There is no comfort in revenge. None. Put your guns down. We can’t keep meting out violence with violence. An eye for an eye makes us both blind, it’s destroying our families and perpetuates this endless cycle of gunshot victims night after night.”

At the news conference, the Police Department’s chief of detectives, Brendan Deenihan, said Weathersby’s killing had gang overtones and he pleaded for the public’s help to solve the shootings, because people on both sides of gang conflicts often choose to take matters into their own hands.

“We believe when we’re investigating that murder that that one occurred related to a prior shooting or murder,” Deenihan said of Weathersby’s killing.

“This is an ongoing gang conflict where individuals are shooting at each other, and obviously those individuals then have no interest in cooperating with police.”

Shots were fired at people at Weathersby’s funeral in the 1000 block of 79th Street from a black car speeding west about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to police.

Deenihan said there were believed to have been three people in the car, two of whom were shooters.

“There’s several people out there when this occurred. We believe that the suspects in this case, obviously people know that they were going to do this,” Deenihan said. “We don’t think this was just random. So we’re looking for anybody with information to bring it forward to us.”

Some at the funeral exchanged gunfire with those in the car, according to police. The vehicle then turned north on Carpenter Street, and shots continued to be fired at the funeral attendees, before the vehicle crashed midway down the block, according to police. Those inside the vehicle fled.

A neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said it sounded like multiple weapons were used in the shooting.

Fourteen victims were being treated at five area hospitals, according to police. A 65-year-old woman, was treated at the scene, police said.

Most were in serious to critical condition when they were taken to the hospital, according to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.

Of the 15 victims, one was said to be in extremely critical condition and a second one was in critical condition, according to police. Deenihan said the car used by the suspects had been stolen.

Brown also pushed back on criticism from at least one activist that there should have been a more robust police presence at the funeral. He said the department was prepared for the potential of danger based on intelligence police received before the mass shooting that there was a “gang connection” related to the funeral.

“We had two police squad cars there and we had a full (tactical) team in the area. And we treat all of our funerals that have any gang rivalry or gang connection in similar ways,” he said.

At the news conference Wednesday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot decried the shooting and the unrelated shooting overnight of a 3-year-old girl, struck by gunfire in the South Shore neighborhood. She said both shootings were “shocking under any circumstances.”

What makes the funeral home shooting especially heinous, she said, “is that the shooters took advantage of families and friends who were gathered to mourn the death a young man who himself had lost his life just a week before.”

“This is a difficult time to stand here because of the pain that we’re all feeling,” Lightfoot said. “We all had restless nights last night, me included. But I woke up this morning even more resolved to do everything that we can to stop this violence.”

“To the cowards behind these shootings, and cowards I think is the right word here, we have to ask you to find your humanity,” Lightfoot said.

After initially saying there were at least 14 wounded, Chicago police gave an update early Wednesday that there were at least 15 people shot. Another man at the scene said he had been grazed by a bullet but had not sought medical attention.

Those shot included at least 10 women, police said. Their ages are: 21; two are 24; 26; 27; 30; 37; 43; 49; and 65.

The 26-year-old woman was in serious condition at the University of Chicago Medical Center and the 43-year-old was in serious condition at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, police said. The rest were in good condition.

Five men were shot, police said. One is 22, two are 31 and one is 32. All the men except one of the 31-year-olds were in serious condition.

Tuesday night at the scene of the attack, one young man stood near the crime scene tape. He said he was waiting in line to go inside the funeral home when the shooting started. As he ran, he realized he was grazed by a bullet, he said.

His right knee had a fresh wound. He said he didn’t tell police or paramedics because it was a minor wound, so he would not have been included in a victim count.

At the scene of the shooting Wednesday morning, four marked police SUVs — three beat cars and on a normal day what would have been the schools sergeant — drove slow down Carpenter with their lights on and turned west onto 79th.

The scene had been cleared such that someone passing through might not know 15 people were shot there Tuesday night, except for a small ribbon of red tape tangled in weeds next to a light pole on Carpenter.

A couple residents swept up. A woman at the funeral home said the owner wouldn’t be available to comment. For a few minutes, a marked police car sat on 79th a block away, but left after a few minutes.

The lounge on the corner of 79th and Carpenter was closed, and it appeared there was no one inside.

A reporter from a local TV station filmed an interview on the corner, and the camera man turned to film the small convoy.

“We’re doing a surge mission,” the sergeant said out his window to the reporter.

Kenneth Parker, vice president of a community advocacy group, didn’t find the police caravan a useful exercise. He was watching the interview before the police rolled up, and then watched the cars pass.

“It’s not effective at all,” he said. “I’m just saying, to put their lights on, what does that serve? It puts no fear in no one, the guys doing this stuff aren’t out here. Who are they doing it for?”

The convoy returned about a half-hour later, turning west on to 79th from Morgan Street, continuing a slow ride west past where the shooting occurred last night.

The Rev. Michael Pfleger, the longtime pastor of St. Sabina Catholic Church, which is only a few blocks from the site of the mass shooting, said Wednesday the parish plans to offer a $15,000 reward for information leading to the arrests of suspects in the case.

He pointed to gang problems, unemployment and poverty in communities like Auburn Gresham that only exacerbate the violence problem in the area. Pfleger also pointed to a fractured relationship between Chicago police and some residents in the area, making the community uneasy about approaching officers with information about violent incidents.

“Why are we surprised people’s anger is exploding like this?” Pfleger said. “I think we’ve got to look at the perfect storm that’s created in communities like this.”

The Tuesday shooting marked one of Chicago’s worst in years.

Last year, 13 people were wounded, four of them critically, in a shooting inside a memorial gathering in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side.

There have been other cases over the years of gunfire outside of funeral services in Chicago.

In November 2012, two men were shot, one of them killed, outside St. Columbanus Church at 71st Street and Prairie Avenue. The shooting took place during a church service for a slain reputed gang member.

Meanwhile, Tuesday’s shooting happened as Chicago continues to reel from shootings that have once again brought unwanted national attention to the city.

So far in 2020, Chicago has experienced one of the most violent years in recent memory. Through Sunday, homicides in Chicago were up 51% with 414, compared to 275 at the same time last year, official CPD statistics show. Shootings were also up by 47%.

During a 28-day period through Sunday, at least 116 people were slain in Chicago, the statistics show. That’s up from 40 during the same period in 2019.

As the violence has intensified this summer, police Superintendent David Brown announced plans to start a roving citywide unit of officers to respond to flare-ups in violence throughout the city, a strategy that has come and gone throughout the years in Chicago. In the meantime, President Donald Trump’s administration is expected to unveil plans to deploy more federal agents to Chicago in an effort to fight the violence.