Four shot at Joliet party for friend headed to prison

Four people were shot during a party held in honor of a friend heading to prison, when an argument over a dice game ended in violence.

The party was hosted in the basement of a home in the 800 block of Sherman Street in an unincorporated area of Joliet, the Will County sheriff’s office said.

It was a celebration in honor of a friend headed to prison on aggravated battery charges, sheriff’s police said. The invitation had been posted to several social media websites.

Partygoers later told police they did not recognize several of the people who showed up, including a group of seven people from Chicago, police said. Two of the Chicago residents got into an argument with other people over a dice game, took out handguns and started shooting.

Joliet police first learned of the shooting about 11:45 p.m. when they received a call about people shot near Gardner Street and Doris Avenue, several blocks away, authorities said.

They stopped a car leaving the area and found six people inside, two of whom had been shot, police said. The occupants told police about the party, and Will County sheriff’s deputies went to the home where they learned about the gathering.

The group of seven people from Chicago had fled before sheriff’s police arrived.

The two injured people from the car were taken to Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, authorities said. One, a 20-year-old Joliet man, had been shot in the hand, while a 19-year-old Joliet man had been shot in the hip.

Two other people hurt in the same shooting showed up at the same hospital on their own later that night. A 17-year-old boy from Chicago had been shot in the hand, and an 18-year-old man, also from Chicago, had been shot four times in the groin and abdomen.

All four people are expected to recover, and the incident remains an active investigation.