Chicago sees wave of shootings over July 4th weekend, leaving 57 injured and 9 dead

Chicago saw a wave of shootings this Fourth of July weekend that left nine people dead and 57 injured in various incidents throughout the city.

According to officials, between 5pm on Friday and the end of the long weekend on Monday night, violent shootings occurred in various incidents including road rage incidents, random shootings, and robberies that ended in shootings. In one shooting, a ten year old boy was injured by bullets that flew through the wall of his home as he was sitting inside. Another shooting occurred after a man confronted an individual who appeared to be breaking into his car.

The shootings occurred in spite of an attempt to beef up police presence in neighborhoods across the city after a violent July 4th weekend last year. The number of fatalities and injuries resulting from gun violence were 14 percent lower this year than in 2021, Police Superintendent David Brown told WTTW.

Chicago is about half an hour’s drive from Highland Park, where a lone gunman carried out a mass shooting at a July 4 parade that killed seven and injured almost 40. A married couple was shot and killed at the scene, leaving their 2-year old son wandering the streets alone after the shooting.

Illinois is not the only US state that saw a rash of gun violence this long weekend. The Gun Violence Archive reported over the July 4 long weekend, 220 people were killed by guns nationwide, and an additional 570 were wounded. 

While not all the shootings were mass shootings – defined as shootings in which there are four victims shot, not including the shooter – there have been 315 mass shootings in the United States since the start of 2022 and 22,500 deaths from any form of gun violence.