CHICAGO (WLS) — Acting Chicago Police Superintendent Fred Waller held a news conference Monday, thanking officers and community leaders for what he called a safe and successful Puerto Rico Parade and Festival weekend.
While no incidents have been reported during the Humboldt Park events, Waller said the department has been looking at how to best deploy resources during future events.
SEE: Acting Supervisor CPD. Fred Waller speaks after a violent weekend
“We stretched ourselves pretty thin this weekend, by the lake and on the beaches because we had a lot of resources here,” Waller said.
Community activist Andrew Holmes said with summer activities in full swing, it’s not just up to police officers to keep the peace. Neighbors can take care of each other.
“If Humboldt Park can come together, the whole city can come together in different areas, from Englewood to the East Side, the West Side, and fight this gun violence,” Holmes said.
At least 31 people were shot, four dead, in shootings across the city over the weekend, police said. Three people were shot at a CTA station on the city’s south side.
Going forward, Waller said, the police department is working to be able to rotate and move officers where they are needed and add more officers to the mass transit unit.
“We always strive to do better. We’re never satisfied. We did a little bit better than the weekend before, but we’re never satisfied with what we’re doing,” Waller said.
Waller also thanked the officers whose days off were canceled to work on the Puerto Rico Festival and Parade, and said that moving forward, there is always more work to be done to ensure that every event is safe.
Weekend shoots
Two men were shot, one fatally, Sunday morning on Chicago Lawn on the South Side. They were outside in the 3100 block of West Redfield Drive when someone approached them and fired shots around 8 a.m., according to Chicago police. The 30-year-old man suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead. The other man, 25, was shot in the abdomen and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition.
Later Sunday, a 20-year-old man was shot and killed in the North Lawndale neighborhood. He was standing on a sidewalk around 6 p.m. in the 1900 block of South St. Louis Avenue when someone approached in a vehicle and fired shots, hitting him several times, police said. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Around 1 a.m. Sunday, a man was shot to death on a street in the Humboldt Park neighborhood. Santos Rodriguez, 27, was shot multiple times while in the 3700 block of West Division Street, police and the Cook County Coroner’s Office said. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died.
Three people, ages 16, 18 and 19, were shot near a CTA station in the first block of West 95th Street around 2:45 p.m. Sunday. According to police, a 19-year-old man got into a fight with someone on the sidewalk before running into the lobby of the train station. The person he fought back with shots hit the three teenagers. The 16-year-old boy was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition with gunshot wounds to the arm and back. The other two were taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where the 18-year-old was listed in fair condition and the 19-year-old was listed in fair condition.
A 16-year-old boy was shot on a porch in Belmont Cragin Saturday night. He was on the back porch of a residence in the 5300 block of West Oakdale Avenue around 9:30 p.m. when someone fired a gun, striking him in the head, police said. He was listed in critical condition at Illinois Masonic Hospital.
Three other teenagers – a 15-year-old boy, a 16-year-old boy and a 17-year-old boy – were also injured in separate shootings on the city’s south and west sides over the weekend.
Last weekend, 46 people were shot, nine dead.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
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