In less than 7 hours, 40 shot, 4 fatally as violence rips Chicago

In less than 7 hours, 40 shot, 4 fatally as violence rips Chicago

Starting about midnight Saturday, at least 40 people were shot citywide, four fatally, in a period of less than seven hours as gunmen targeted groups at a block party, after a funeral, on a front porch and in other gatherings, according to authorities.

The bloody toll comes as tens of thousands of concertgoers converged downtown for Lollapalooza, which drew heightened security and a large police presence following the country’s deadliest mass shooting at a Las Vegas music festival last year.

In contrast to the joyous scene downtown, the brunt of the violence early Sunday was felt on the West Side, where 25 people were shot in separate attacks between midnight and 6:50 a.m., according to police figures.

The largest shooting, which injured eight people, happened in the South Side’s Gresham neighborhood as a group, including a 14-year-old girl, was standing in a courtyard just before 12:40 a.m.

The crowd had gathered after attending a funeral repast, said Fred Waller, Chicago police chief of patrol.

During a Sunday news conference, Waller voiced frustration at gang members whom he blamed for taking advantage of large summer crowds to use as cover to take revenge.

The gang members do not fear repercussions from the law, Waller said.

“They take advantage of that opportunity and they shoot into a crowd, no matter who they hit,” Waller said.

Even a block party was not safe from the violence.

DATA: The Tribune crime team tracks shooting victims in Chicago »

At 16th Street and Avers Avenue, people in lime green T-shirts from an annual block party in the West Side’s Lawndale neighborhood gathered on sidewalks and in streets after a shooting there around midnight. Crime scene tape crossed 16th Street east of Springfield Avenue and stretched far down the block past Penn Elementary School on the south side of 16th.

There, a 13-year-old boy was shot twice in the right arm. A car drove up to the gathering and two people got out and opened fire into the crowd, hitting two more teenagers and a 25-year-old man.