15 Shot Hours After Anti-Gun Rally

Just hours after an emotional, anti-gun violence rally on Daley Plaza Thursday afternoon, 15 people were shot across the city. One man died.

Among the more than a dozen people shot within a six hour period, six of them were Chicago Public Schools students.  It's  number, police say, that has never been reached before.

The violence began at about 5:30, when a 16-year-old boy was shot in the arm on the North Side in the 5000 block of North Kenmore Ave.

About an hour later, a 19-year-old man playing basketball in Cole Park, in the 8500 block of South King Drive, was shot while trying to break up a fight.

In the 4500 block of West Altgeld Street, a 21-year-old man was shot in his mid-section shortly before 7 p.m.

About a quarter of an hour later, four other men were shot in the 7700 block of South Loomis Boulevard.

One 31-year-old man was taken in critical condition to John H. Stroger Hospital of Cook County, a 24-year-old suffered a graze wound and was taken to Stroger. A third man was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn with a gunshot wound to the leg. A 19-year-old was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. His condition was not released.

Within minutes of that quad shooting, two men were wounded in the 3200 block of West Crystal Street. One was shot in the head and the other was shot in the knee.

The fatal shooting of the evening came at about 8:40 p.m., when I man in his 20s was shot in the 5300 block of West Chicago Avenue. He died 40 minutes later at Mount Sinai Hospital.

At 9:45 p.m., a 23-year-old man was shot in the 5900 block of South Rockwell Avenue. He was taken to Holy Cross Hospital in good condition, police said.

An hour later, and only about a half-mile away from where the earlier fatal shooting occurred, two men, a 14-year-old boy and a female were wounded in a shooting in the 5400 block of West Iowa Street.

"It's obviously disheartening and depressing to think, you know, to be fighting this issue and here we are in one night, 15 shootings, six CPS students, I mean, my God, what's going on?" said Fr. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Catholic Church.

A day earlier, he and students from Howard University in Washington, D.C, gathered in Federal Plaza to lobby for national handgun and assault gun legislation.

He said that what happened overnight was "reality," and said that the warmer the weather gets, the more likelihood there is for more conflict on the streets.

"Unless there was a swelling tide that rolls up from the people, it's only going to get worse," he said.

Waking up Friday, the Howard students said the overnight violence only underscored the importance of their message.

"It's unbelievable. But it's just proof that we need to address this issue as soon as possible," said freshman Kandice Purdy. "For 16 people to get shot in one night, it's serious."