Two young girls were among 27 people shot in Chicago over the weekend as gun violence continues to outpace last year so far.
The girls, 11 and 12, remained in critical condition and on life support Monday morning after they were shot in separate attacks 30 minutes and four miles apart on the South Side Saturday night, police and family said.
Nine children 14 and younger have been shot in Chicago so far this year: a 3-year-old boy, a 5-year-old girl, an 11-year-old girl, a boy and girl both 12, a 13-year-old boy, a 14-year-old girl and two 14-year-old boys, according to data kept by the Tribune.
The shootings have occurred across the South and West Sides: Lawndale, South Chicago, East Garfield Park, Chatham, Chicago Lawn, Gresham, Marquette Park, West Englewood and Parkway Gardens. Most of them have been in police districts long known for violence.
The last child 14 or under fatally shot in Chicago was Demarco Webster, 14, who was killed on Oct. 17 last year in a drive-by shooting as he helped his father move out of an apartment building in the South Austin neighborhood, according to authorities and his family.
DeMarco was among at least 784 people killed in the city last year, the deadliest in two decades, according to data compiled by the Tribune.
The number of homicides so far this year is lower than the same time last year, though the number of people shot is higher.
As of Monday morning, there were at least 69 homicides so far this year compared with 78 last year. At least 403 people have been shot in the city this year compared to 363 people this time last year, according to Tribune data.
Over this past weekend, 11-year-old Takiya Holmes was sitting in a parked car with her mother, aunt and younger brother in the Parkway Gardens neighborhood around 8 p.m. when she was hit in the head by a stray bullet, police said.
Relatives at Comer Children’s Hospital said they were told by doctors that Takiya’s prognosis was "not good."
A half-hour earlier, 12-year-old Kanari Gentry Bowers was also shot in the head while playing with friends at Henderson Elementary School in the West Englewood neighborhood, police said.
Kanari’s family told reporters outside Stroger Hospital that on at least three occasions, paramedics and hospital staff couldn’t detect the girl’s heartbeat. She remained on life support and so far has not responded to her relatives.
No one was in custody in either shooting.
Two 16-year-old boys were also hit by gunfire in the city over the weekend. One of the boys was shot in the left arm in a drive-by shooting about 9:35 p.m. Sunday in the South Shore neighborhood, police said. On Saturday, a 16-year-old boy was shot in the right arm in the North Austin neighborhood.
About 6:50 p.m. Friday, two 17-year-old boys were wounded in Roseland.
Among those fatally wounded was a 25-year-old woman, one of four people shot Saturday in the 100 block of North Mayfield Avenue in the South Austin neighborhood, police said.
The shooting happened about 8:30 p.m. when someone got out of a dark-colored SUV and shot at four people who were walking in the area. The 25-year-old woman was shot in the neck and was pronounced dead. Three others were wounded in the shooting.
In the North Center community, a 55-year-old woman died after she was shot by Chicago police officers.
Michelle Robey, of the 5600 block of North Spaulding Avenue, was shot about 6 p.m. Friday in the 3600 block of North Western Avenue near a CVS Pharmacy store. Police had responded to the area because Robey had reportedly been destroying items.
The officers shot Robey after she made threatening statements and was reportedly armed with a knife, police said. Officials were looking into the possibility that Robey was trying to force officers to shoot her.
Chicago Tribune’s Tony Briscoe contributed.
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