2 dead, 5 hurt in Chicago shootings Thursday

Two people were killed and five others were injured by gun violence Thursday across Chicago.

The latest fatal shooting left one man dead and another hurt Thursday night in West Garfield Park on the West Side.

They were driving north about 9:50 p.m. when someone fired shots at them in the 200 block of North Pulaski Road, Chicago police said. They were both struck in the chest, and their vehicle crashed into a building. Both men were taken to Stroger Hospital, where one of them died. The other man, 36, was in critical condition.

A man was killed in Thursday’s earliest shooting in Englewood on the South Side.

Derek Middleton, 31, was walking about 2:10 a.m. when someone approached him in the 1300 block of West 73rd Street holding a handgun with a green laser, police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. The person opened fire, striking Middleton in the chest. He was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he died shortly after.

The latest nonfatal shooting happened about five minutes earlier in West Pullman on the Far South Side.

A 22-year-old man was working in a fast food restaurant about 9:45 p.m. in the 11600 block of South Halsted Street when another employee accidentally fired a gun, police said. He was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in good condition with a gunshot wound to the leg. Detectives are questioning the employee who fired the gun, but no charges have been filed as of early Friday.

Earlier that afternoon, another man was wounded in Lawndale on the West Side.

A 19-year-old was on the street about 4:05 p.m. in the 1200 block of South Keeler Avenue when someone opened fire from a dark-colored vehicle, according to police. He was shot in his arms and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was stabilized.

A drive-by left two men wounded half an hour earlier in West Garfield Park.

They were on a sidewalk about 3:35 p.m. in the 3800 block of West Gladys Avenue when someone drove by in a Kia and opened fire, police said. A 23-year-old man was shot multiple times and taken to Stroger Hospital in serious condition. The other man, 24, was hit in the finger and taken to the same hospital in good condition.

Wednesday saw seven people shot across the city, two of them fatally.

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