Little Village mass shooting blamed on dispute between migrants, local residents over double-parked car

An argument between Venezuelan migrants and Little Village residents over a double-parked car ended in four women and three men being wounded by gunfire over the weekend, according to police and a community leader.

Baltazar Enriquez, a community organizer in Little Village, said neighborhood residents told him the parking dispute early Sunday pitted neighborhood residents against migrants, who the residents claimed were eager to fight.

Enriquez, who helps migrants, said he was unsure which side the shooter was on, but he worried about the escalating tensions.

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“It’s very heartbreaking to hear that these types of things are happening,” Enriquez said. “You know, the animosity’s going to be there now, and we hope that this doesn’t get bigger.”

Ald. Michael Rodriguez (22nd) decried the attack, blocks from his home, and said he’s working with officials and outreach workers to “bring justice to the community” and ensure “there’s no further violence.”

The mass shooting unfolded around 3:30 a.m. Sunday when a gunman opened fire at a “large gathering of Venezuelans” during an argument with another man over a double-parked car, according to a police report.

The argument turned into a fight, with several people leaving an apartment and backyard in the 3500 block of West 30th Street, according to the report.

That’s when a person took out a handgun and shot at several people. The gunman then entered the backyard and continued shooting, the report states. At one point, the gunman shot through the first-floor apartment door, striking “multiple” people inside.

One of the seven victims was critically wounded. The woman, a 30-year-old who lives at the home where the shooting happened, was struck in her abdomen and legs, according to the report. She was treated at Mount Sinai Hospital.

The 30-year-old man who was arguing with the gunman was shot in his legs and listed in fair condition at Stroger Hospital, the report states. His home address is listed about a block away from where the shooting happened.

The other victims were listed in good condition, police said. They include a 52-year-old man shot in his legs; a woman, 29, shot in her leg; and a man, 34, who suffered graze wounds.

The last two victims, two women, had home addresses listed at the city’s migrant shelter at 2241 S. Halsted St., where a 5-year-old boy died in December. They were a 47-year-old woman, shot in her legs, and a woman, 22, shot in her buttocks and thigh, according to the report.

Police said the gunman fled in a white van. No one was in custody, police said.

A police surveillance camera captured the shooting, and ten 9 mm shell casings were recovered, according to the police report.

Rodriguez wouldn’t comment or speculate on the circumstances of the shooting because an investigation is ongoing.

“I think regardless of whether a victim’s a migrant, a resident or U.S. citizen, nobody should be the victim of this type of senseless violence,” he said.

“This is a couple blocks from my house,” he added. “This is not OK that it’s happening in my neighborhood, and my neighbors deserve justice and peace.”

Rodriguez said the shooting highlights “a real poverty of the soul, where people feel like they can resolve conflicts by shooting guns at other people.”

He insisted the solution is further restricting access to firearms.

“That would resolve so many of these crimes across our country in urban centers,” he said. “I can’t understand why we can’t do the commonsense thing.”

Neighbors said it wasn’t unusual to hear late-night arguments coming from the corner of 30th and St. Louis Avenue, which is near the scene of the shooting, because there’s a bar there that’s open until 2 a.m.

Gunshots, too, are familiar sounds, but neighbors said they were shocked by the scale of the incident. One man said he heard at least 10 shots and saw wounded people lying in the street.

Maria Dominguez said she didn’t hear the shots but said her upstairs neighbors were awakened by the gunfire. They called her to make sure she wasn’t harmed, she said.

Dominguez, who has lived in the neighborhood four years, did see the squad cars that flooded her street after the shooting when the commotion woke her up around 4 a.m.

She said she heard some of the people yelling “We’re Venezuelans, we’re good people, and we’re scared.”

Dominguez and other neighbors said the people living in the apartment moved in within the last three months, and the building was recently rehabbed.

Dorothy Perez said she wasn’t sure what sparked the shooting, but she feels like the area has gotten less safe over the 34 years she has lived on the block.

“I’d like for the area to be a little safer,” Perez said. “I know police are doing their jobs, but I wish there was a little more vigilance.”

Perez said she doesn’t understand why anyone would have a problem with migrants.

“They are human beings just like us, and they have rights too,” Perez said.

Enriquez helps migrants with basic necessities, such as clothes and hygiene products, although he hopes to start offering training sessions about city and state laws, with a focus on driving rules.

He said he and other activists have also asked Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration to teach migrants about the terrain in certain neighborhoods, including how to dress to avoid drawing unwanted attention in a city with scores of gang factions.

But given that migrants routinely “get shifted” from one location to another, Enriquez acknowledged it’s been difficult to help them acclimate to their new surroundings.

And the influx of new arrivals “has become an issue between the community where it’s dividing us,” Enriquez said.

“This division is causing a little bit of hate toward the [migrants], and we’re trying to make sure that this doesn’t grow, and this doesn’t become a trend,” Enriquez added.

The shooting happened less than a day after a man was found fatally shot blocks away. Early Saturday, a man was discovered shot to death in the 3600 block of West 26th Street, police said. No other information was released.