Gun violence drops, only 2 shot Saturday as temps cool

Only two people were shot in Chicago over a 24-hour period Saturday, marking a second day of a significant drop in daily gun violence as cooler temperatures moved through the area.

The day before, on Friday, there was a 22-hour span when no one was wounded or killed by gunfire. That day was bookended by shootings in the Austin and Lawndale neighborhoods on the West Side.

The last shooting Saturday wounded a car passenger in the Grand Boulevard community area on the South Side.

A 21-year-old man was in the traveling vehicle about 2:35 p.m. in the 100 block of West 43rd Street when a white car pulled up and someone inside fired shots, Chicago police said. The man was hit in his leg, and was dropped off at Mercy Hospital. His condition had stabilized.

Earlier in the morning, a man was wounded in the Albany Park neighborhood on the Northwest Side. The 22-year-old was walking about 3 a.m. in the 4800 block of North Kimball Avenue when he heard gunfire and realized he’d been shot.

He was struck in the cheek and was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where his condition stabilized, police said.

This weekend, four people have been wounded in shootings since 5 p.m. Friday. By comparison, 22 people had been shot — one of them fatally — in the same time-span last weekend.