18 people shot in 5 hours early Sunday

Gun violence spiked this Halloween weekend on early Sunday when shootings wounded 16 people and killed two in a span of five hours.

Five of the shooting incidents between midnight and 5 a.m. had more than one victim—including one double shooting that killed a teenager in the South Side Chicago Lawn neighborhood.

John Pena-Alvarez, 16, was walking in an alley about 2:15 a.m. in the 6200 block of South Maplewood when someone drove up in a car and fired shots, Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. Pena-Alvarez was shot in the chest and shoulder and was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center, where he died.

A 19-year-old man who was also shot brought himself to Holy Cross Hospital with a gunshot wound to the foot, police said. His condition stabilized.

“He was a good kid. He was very respectful to me when I was his substitute teacher,” community activist Raul Montes Jr. said of Pena-Alvarez. “He lost his mom at a young age. I remember his mom got killed when he was 4 or 5 years old. He grew up without his dad and he moved from home to home.”

Pena-Alvarez lived in the Little Village neighborhood, authorities said.

Almost two hours earlier, on the South Side, a man died and a woman was hospitalized following a double drive-by shooting in the Englewood neighborhood. At 12:20 a.m., a 30-year-old man and 21-year-old woman were standing on a sidewalk in the 5900 block of South Peoria Street when someone in an SUV fired shots.

Deshawn Jacobs was shot in the neck and taken to University of Chicago Medical Center, where he died later that morning, authorities said. The woman, also taken there, had a gunshot wound in her right leg and her condition was stabilized. Jacobs lived in the Englewood neighborhood.

The last nonfatal shooting early Sunday happened about 5 a.m. in the Little Village neighborhood. A 15-year-old boy was riding a bicycle in the 2200 block of South Washtenaw Avenue when he heard gunshots and felt pain in his left leg, police said. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital with a gunshot wound to his leg.

A triple shooting struck the Englewood neighborhood a little over an hour earlier on the South Side. Two women and a man were standing about 3:50 a.m. in the 1000 block of West 60th Street when someone in a vehicle fired shots at them, according to police.

The man, 32, was shot multiple times in his abdomen and was taken in critical condition to University of Chicago Medical Center, police said. A 28-year-old woman was shot in the left leg. Her condition was stabilized at the same hospital. And a 24-year-old woman was struck in her buttocks. Her condition stabilized at Holy Cross Hospital.

Thirty minutes earlier, in the South Loop, a man was wounded in a drive-by shooting. At 3:21 a.m., the 37-year-old was driving a grey Infiniti sports-utility vehicle in the 2300 block of South Wabash Avenue when someone in a gray car fired gunshots at him, police said. The man was taken to Mercy Hospital with a gunshot wound in his back.

One minute earlier, a 43-year-old man was wounded in Englewood. The man was standing about 3:20 a.m. in the 5600 block of South Emerald Avenue when two males walked up to him and shot him, police said.

The man was struck in the left leg and was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center, where his condition stabilized, according to police. The shooters jumped into a black Audi sports-utility vehicle and drove away.

On the North Side, a man was wounded about 3:10 a.m. in the Lincoln Park neighborhood on the North Side. The 22-year-old man was walking with a group of people in the 2400 block of North Lake Shore Drive when he was shot in the left foot, police said. The man brought himself to Community First Hospital.

On the West Side, a man showed up with a gunshot wound at a hospital in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side. About 2:30 a.m., the 21-year-old took himself to West Suburban Hospital in Oak Park with a bullet in his right leg, police said. He told officers he was shot by someone in a red sedan in the 900 block of North Latrobe Avenue.

Two people were wounded in a drive-by shootingin the Avondale neighborhood on the Northwest Side. Just before 3 a.m., a woman and man were driving in the 3500 block of South Kedzie Avenue when someone inside a black Jeep fired shots, police said. A 45-year-old woman was grazed in her right arm and was taken to University of Illinois hospital in good condition. The 34-year-old man was also taken there with a gunshot wound to his right knee.

Another drive-by attack wounded two people near the University of Illinois’s South Loop campus. Shortly after 1 a.m., a group was standing on a street in the 1100 block of South Jefferson when someone in a car fired shots, police said.

A 36-year-old man was shot in the left leg and taken to Stroger Hospital, police said. A 35-year-old woman was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital with a gunshot wound in her right leg. Their conditions stabilized.

At 12:20 a.m., a 28-year-old man was wounded in a drive-by in the Austin neighborhood. He was standing in a backyard in the 1100 block of South Austin when someone in a white car opened fire, police said. He was struck in his arm and was taken to West Suburban Hospital in Oak Park.

Minutes earlier, a man was shot blocks away in the same neighborhood. The 31-year-old was standing on a sidewalk in the 300 block of South Lockwood when someone in a white car fired a bullet into his back, police said. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where his condition was stabilized.

Police were investigating if the two shootings were related.