2 killed, 4 wounded in East Garfield Park shooting

SHARE 2 killed, 4 wounded in East Garfield Park shooting
6shot_040317_8.jpg

Chicago Police investigate the scene where two men were killed and four men were shot in the at 4:33 p.m. Sunday in the 3500 block of West Van Buren in the East Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side. | Brian Jackson/For the Sun-Times

A burst of daytime gunfire on the city’s West Side claimed two lives Sunday, left four others wounded and left frustrated residents shaking their heads.

At 4:33 p.m., the men were standing in a group in the 3500 block of West Van Buren when a white, four-door car pulled up and multiple people got out and started shooting, according to Chicago Police. The vehicle may have been a Chevrolet Impala, police said.

Two of the men, 23-year-old Deonta Turner and 27-year-old Lemont Davis, were shot in the chest and were taken to Stroger Hospital, where they were pronounced dead just after 5 p.m., according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Autopsies Monday found Turner, of the Uptown neighborhood, died of a gunshot wound to the back; and Davis, of Oak Park, died of multiple gunshot wounds. Their deaths were ruled homicides.

An 18-year-old man was shot in the chest; a 23-year-old man was shot in the back; and a 24-year-old man was shot in the chest, back and leg, police said. They were all taken in critical condition to Stroger Hospital.

The sixth man, 26, suffered a gunshot wound to the right leg and was taken in good condition to Mount Sinai Hospital, police said.

Residents say the block, just off the Eisenhower Expressway, has become a hotspot for drug trafficking. Dealers have had success hiding their drugs in the area whenever cops are called, the residents said.

A group of about 30 people was seen on the block in the hours before the shooting, with some running up and down the street. The residents said it looked like an argument had broken out.

A bullet hole in a window in the 3500 block of West Van Buren on Sunday. | Brian Jackson/For the Sun-Times

A bullet hole in a window in the 3500 block of West Van Buren on Sunday. | Brian Jackson/For the Sun-Times

The shooting happened in the Chicago Police Department’s Beat No. 1133, the most violent beat in the city last year. It saw 61 shootings in 2016 — 16 of them fatal — according to records kept by the Chicago Sun-Times. Numbers there had fallen dramatically in the first three months of 2017, with only two nonfatal shootings and not one homicide on the beat. Until Sunday.

Residents of the block, just off the Eisenhower Expressway, say drug traffickers who have taken over the area have so far managed to thwart police called to investigate suspicious activity.

RELATED: THE WATCHDOGS: The most violent police beat in Chicago 7 dead in 3 separate shootings in South Shore neighborhood

Ald. Jason Ervin (28th) said he confronted people on the block just Saturday — non-residents who “just show up over here as if they’re coming to work” to sell marijuana. He complained about a lack of economic opportunity and that police are not being allowed to properly do their job.

Evidence markers are strewn on the street in the 3500 block of West Van Buren on Sunday, April 2, 2017. | Brian Jackson/For the Sun-Times

Evidence markers are strewn on the street in the 3500 block of West Van Buren on Sunday, April 2, 2017. | Brian Jackson/For the Sun-Times

The fatal shooting in East Garfield Park happened about four hours after a shooting in the South Side Auburn Gresham neighborhood left one man dead and another wounded. That shooting was in the 8200 block of South Ada at 12:30 p.m. A 19-year-old man was shot once in the back and a 20-year-old man was shot twice in the back. Both were taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. The older man was pronounced dead, police said. The younger man was listed in critical condition.

Contributing: Sam Charles, Jordan Owen

The Latest
Despite the addition of some new characters (human and otherwise) the film comes across as a relatively uninspired and fairly forgettable chapter in the Monsterverse saga.
Unite Here Local 1, representing the workers at the Signature Room and its lounge, said in a lawsuit in October the employer failed to give 60 days notice of a closing or mass layoff, violating state law.
Uecker has been synonymous with Milwaukee baseball for over half a century.
Doctors say looking at the April 8 eclipse without approved solar glasses — which are many times darker than sunglasses — can lead to retinal burns and can result in blind spots and permanent vision loss.
Antoine Perteet, 33, targeted victims on the dating app Grindr, according to Chicago police.