2 killed, 3 wounded in shooting during family gathering at Roseland park

Two people were killed and three others wounded when someone opened fire on a family gathering Sunday evening in Roseland on the Far South Side.

Just before 8 p.m., a gunman in a gray Honda sedan pulled up and fired shots at a family celebration at Wendell Smith Park in the 9900 block of South Princeton Avenue, Chicago police Cmdr. Tyrone Pendarvis told reporters Sunday night.

“It’s unfortunate today that this occurred because it was a fine day and people were just enjoying their family activities, but violence prevails in the city,” Pendarvis said.

Responding officers found Robert Barnes, 38, with a gunshot wound to the head, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Another man — Brian A. Ross, 32 — was shot in the neck and was pronounced dead at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, police and the medical examiner’s office said.

A 27-year-old man was taken in critical condition to the University of Chicago Medical Center with gunshot wounds to the buttocks and left shoulder, police said.

Two other men, a 25-year-old who was shot in the torso and a 19-year-old who was shot in both legs, were listed in fair condition at Christ Medical Center, police said.

At an anti-violence event Monday morning, Interim Chicago Police Supt. Fred Waller said the event had been a Father’s Day gathering.

He said police need to “do better” in patrolling near events where people may have “people who are against them,” though he said an investigation was still ongoing to determine if the people who were shot were the “intended targets.”

“That’s what happened, somebody came by and just opened up fire on the whole group,” Waller told reporters. “There’s just too many guns and too many people willing to use those guns to settle even the most minor arguments. … We need to break this cycle.”

No one was reported in custody.