Chicago's violent weekend began Friday afternoon when, in the span of three hours, three people were shot in Englewood, another person was wounded in East Chatham and an 81-year-old woman and a relative were hit by gunfire as they sat on a porch in Gresham, taking a break from a wake.
It ended early Monday morning in the South Shore neighborhood when a man was shot and seriously wounded just yards from where one man was killed and another wounded hours earlier.
The gunfire scattered two dozen people who had gathered at the murder scene as police drew their weapons and scanned a vacant lot with their flashlights.
About a hundred yards away, they found a 24-year-old man bleeding from wounds to the abdomen and leg, the 49th person to be shot in Chicago over the weekend.
That high a toll is usually seen during the hotter summer months, but Chicago has experienced a 22 percent increase in shooting incidents so far this year. Through May 10, there were 627 shooting incidents, up from 516 for the same year-earlier period, the police department said. Last year saw shooting incidents rise to 2,084, up nearly 12 percent from 1,866 in 2013.
In the last shootings of the weekend, police followed the sound of gunfire and found two wounded men at 78th Street and South Shore Drive around 12:30 a.m. Monday.
One of the men, Morial Ewing, 28, fell against a wrought-iron fence and his legs blocked a gangway between the fence and a yellow-brick apartment building. He had a gun in his hand, police said.
Ewing was dead at the scene, just a mile a half from where he lived in the 8100 block of South Bennett Avenue, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
The second man, 29 years old, ran into a building and police had to break down a door to get to him after they followed a trail of blood. He was taken to Northwestern Memorial.
Shots rang out as police were still combing the area around 3 a.m. A sergeant called in the gunfire while officers drew their weapons and tried lighting up a vacant lot.
"Got shots being fired, shots being fired, uh, just to the, uh, west of our location, just to the west. Whole bunch of shots," the sergeant said.
"Who was that with the shots fired?" the dispatcher asked.
"420 Robert Squad," the sergeant said. "A whole bunch of shots, uh, maybe, uh, one block, not even half a block, maybe the alley of the, uh, South Shore and Coles."
The sound of people fleeing the scene could be heard over the radio. As the sergeant talked, an officer crouched slightly with his weapon pointed toward the gunfire, a flashlight under the gun illuminating the overgrown lot.
Officers then ran north with guns drawn and found a wounded man on 78th Place. He was wheeled into an ambulance and taken in serious condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, police said.
Officers found a BB gun not far from the man, but police said it was not the weapon used to shoot him. He wasn't cooperating with investigators, police said.
As police investigated both shooting scenes, officers started chasing someone through a lakefront path about 150 feet away. Police said it appeared the person was loading a magazine into a gun.
Officers ran south toward the path, and a supervisor asked if the officers wanted a helicopter. No helicopter was available, but after a few minutes police brought someone out of the wooded area.
No gun was recovered. But as the sun rose over the lake and the city skyline came into view, police alerted supervisors that they had found a box of ammunition and the man's clothing. Charges were pending, police said.
At least 49 people were shot, two of them fatally, since Friday afternoon in Chicago. Twenty-two people were shot Friday night into early Saturday and another 18 were shot late Saturday morning into Sunday.
The violent weekend comes on top of a 22 percent increase in shooting incidents so far this year. Through May 10, there were 627 shooting incidents, up from 516 for the same year-earlier period, the department said.
Last year saw shooting incidents rise to 2,084, up nearly 12 percent from 1,866 in 2013.
Aside from the three men shot in the South Shore neighborhood early Monday, six others were wounded on the South Side since Sunday afternoon.
-- A 14-year-old boy was shot in the Pilsen neighborhood about 12:30 a.m. Monday and was taken to Stroger Hospital. He was shot in the 1700 block of West 21st Street and suffered a hand wound.
-- A 22-year-old man was shot about 12:10 a.m. Monday in the 6100 block of South Bishop Street in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side. Details about that shooting weren't immediately available but the man was hit in the leg and is said to be in good condition at Stroger Hospital, according to police.
-- About 20 minutes earlier late Sunday, in the 5800 block of South Morgan Street in the Englewood neighborhood, a 25-year-old man was shot in the abdomen. Police said the man was on a porch when he heard shots and felt pain. Police taped off the front of the brown brick two-flat apartment building to guard the crime scene. It appeared that someone had shot up the house.
-- Earlier at about 8:15 p.m. Sunday, a man involved in a fight in the West Englewood neighborhood was dropped off at Holy Cross Hospital after someone shot him in the leg in the 7300 block of South Claremont Avenue, police said. A friend took him to the hospital but the man, 25, was eventually transferred to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn with a gunshot wound to the leg. He's in serious condition, police said.
-- At 6 p.m. Sunday, someone shot a 23-year-old man in the arm and back in the 7000 block of South Emerald Avenue in Englewood, said Officer Veejay Zala, a Chicago Police Department spokeswoman. Paramedics took him in serious condition to Christ Medical Center, Zala said.
-- Earlier Sunday, a 22-year-old man was shot at 12:20 p.m. on the 400 block of West 65th Place in the Englewood neighborhood, police said. The man was outside when a male walked up and shot him in the right arm, police said. The victim was taken to Stroger Hospital in good condition, police said.