2 separate shootings leave at least 10 wounded for 2nd straight weekend of gun violence

After garnering the national spotlight in the wake of the recent mass shootings in Texas and Ohio, a pair of weekend shootings in Chicago left at least 10 people wounded for the second straight week.

Most recently, six people were wounded early Sunday in a drive-by shooting in the 3500 block of West Lake, which borders Garfield Park, according to Chicago police.

Witnesses told the Chicago Sun-Times that a large crowd was listening to music and hanging out before the shots rang out.

“They shootin’,” a woman recalled hearing as people ran from the gunfire.

Five women were among the six people struck, police said. While all the women were stabilized at hospitals, the shooting also left a 25-year-old man critically wounded.

Denise Taylor, a lifelong West Side resident, said most people who live in East Garfield Park have become accustomed to the shootings in the neighborhood.

“They talk about it and say how awful it is, but they go on because it got to be something that’s normal,” Taylor said while strolling through Garfield Park on Sunday.

Four more people were hurt about 11:30 p.m. Friday in another drive-by shooting in the 7300 block of South Artesian in Marquette Park, police said. A 24-year-old man was listed in critical condition and the others were stabilized.

Four people have been killed and 36 others have been shot, including an 8-year-old girl, since Friday evening, according to Sun-Times records.

The latest spate of gun violence comes after last weekend’s citywide gun violence drew national attention as conversations about armed violence and gun control were amplified in the wake of the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.

Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson deployed more officers to the Ogden District after three of last weekend’s shootings left a man dead and 16 others wounded in just over two hours. This weekend, six more people have been shot in the district, which covers portions of the South and Southwest sides, Sun-Times records show.

On Sunday, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi blamed the violence on the “ease of access [to guns] and lack of penalties for carrying them.”