Six people were transported to Chicago-area hospitals Monday evening following a shooting at a coin laundry business on the city's south side.
Two teens were among the victims of the shootings, which occurred shortly before 8:30 p.m inside Sudz, on the 2600 block of East 79th Street.
Officials said it appeared the shooting occurred in the parking lot. Four people were found laying inside the laundry and the other victims were outside on the street. The windows in the laundromat and neighboring businesses were also shot out by gun fire.
"Certainly the pattern indicates that it's probably, likely gang violence at this point. But that may change. We'll see as we move forward," police Supt. Garry McCarthy told reporters on Tuesday morning.
Authorities said the victims included:
- one female, taken to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County,
- two individuals taken to South Shore Hospital,
- one individual taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital,
- one 16-year-old male taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center,
- one 14-year-old individual taken to Comer Children's Hospital at the University of Chicago,
- and one 20-year-old female taken to Jackson Park Hospital.
While several were admitted in critical condition, McCarthy said none of the injuries were life threatening. Three of the victims were released from the hospital in the hours immediately after the shooting. McCarthy expected the others to be released sometime Tuesday.
Some, but not all, of the wounded have gang ties, McCarthy said.
Officials initially said seven people were shot but that number was later revised. One woman hurt her foot running away from the melee.
Matthew Gills, a 33-year-old construction worker who lives across the street, said it sounded like fireworks going off.
"I looked out my bedroom window and saw some young guys running," he said. "I don't know if they were victims or if they were the perpetrators, but it's kind of sad because it's like the little kids can't really play outside anymore."
One of the victims was an employee of the laundromat.
"He was just doing his job and got hit by a stray bullet. It's sad," the victim's co-worker, Willie Donegan said.
"The place had blood all through it and people were running trying to hide their kids."
No arrests have been made in the case.
Footage from surveillance cameras in the strip mall was being reviewed. And while McCarthy said police had a good description of the shooter, he declined to divulge the information, calling it "sterile."
