Pregnant woman among 4 killed in Brighton Park gang shooting: alderman

A pregnant woman was among four people shot to death Friday night in Brighton Park, in the latest bloodshed stemming from an ongoing gang war in the Southwest Side neighborhood, officials said.

The woman and three men were found in a car by officers responding to a call of shots fired about 8:35 p.m. in the 4700 block of South Fairfield, according to Chicago Police.

One of the victims was 28-year-old Ida Arvizu. Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) said her mother confirmed to authorities that her daughter was pregnant when she was killed.

The Cook County medical examiner’s office identified the slain men as Michelle A. Cano, 21; Joel Sandoval, 24; and Miguel Sandoval, 27.

They all suffered multiple gunshot wounds and their deaths were ruled homicides.

The slain men were thought to be members of the Satan’s Disciples street gang, with the assault rifle gunfire possibly carried out by Latin Saints members in retaliation for a Thursday night shooting in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, Lopez said.

Satan’s Disciples members are thought to have returned fire once again in a Saturday morning shooting that left two men wounded, according to the alderman, who said the ongoing gang war has been fueled on social media.

“The revolving door of retaliation keeps rolling,” Lopez said. “They are acting like this is a game. This is a blood sport for them.”

Arvizu lived in the neighborhood where she was killed, according to the medical examiner’s office. Cano lived in Englewood and the Sandovals in Gage Park.

At the crime scene Friday night, police placed a white sheet over the shattered windshield of the sedan, which idled at the corner of 47th and Fairfield next to a warehouse. Dozens of gold rifle casings littered the street and sidewalk nearby.

Family members made frantic phone calls and clutched each other outside the block-long crime scene.

“We’re still trying to figure out who’s who,” an officer told a sobbing woman who tried to push past him.

Marisela Rodrigues said she was putting away dishes in her apartment about three blocks away when she heard rapid gunfire — at least 20 shots.

“It sounded like something out of a movie,” she said.

The shooting inched Chicago closer to 500 homicides this year. The city had logged 494 homicides as of Saturday evening, including 459 shooting deaths, according to data maintained by the Chicago Sun-Times.

Contributing: Mitchell Armentrout