While most of us were thrilled by yesterday's mild weather, law enforcement officials suspect that the weather contributed to an unusually violent day on the streets of Chicago.
Two teens and a 21-year-old man were wounded in gang-related shootings and a man was found stabbed to death in a West Side alley late Tuesday, the Chicago Tribune reported.
In all, at least nine people were shot and one stabbed in street violence that accompanied springlike 74-degree temperatures.
"And those are only the ones that made the news before midnight," blogger Second City Cop said in his posting Tuesday night.
Two men were wounded during a possible gang-related shooting in the South Side’s Back of the Yards community.
Two men -- reportedly members of the same gang -- were shot by someone in a car in the 4300 block of South Honore Street at about 10:30 p.m., police said.
One man suffered gunshot woundw to the head, chest and abdomen area and was taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County in serious condition. The bullets were small and the man was walking and talking after the shooting, police said.
The other man was shot in the forearm and was taken to Provident Hospital of Cook County in good condition, police said.
Wentworth Area detectives are investigating, but nobody is in custody early Wednesday.
Grand Central Area detectives are investigating the the death of a Hampshire man who was found fatally stabbed in an alley Tuesday night in the Northwest Side’s Hermosa neighborhood.
Oscar Salgado, 26, of Hampshire, was pronounced dead at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center at 10:40 p.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Police said Salgado suffered multiple stab wounds.
Nobody is in custody early Wednesday.
Also in the Grand Central Area, a man was shot and critically wounded in an apparently gang-related attack in the Far West Side’s Austin neighborhood.
About 10:40 p.m., a four-door Toyota Camry with three male alleged gang-members inside pulled up to an 18-year-old man standing in the street at on North La Crosse Avenue, police said.
The three exited the car and began arguing with each other, yelling gang slogans back and forth. At one point, one of the men told another to shoot the 18-year-old, police said. It was not immediately known how the 18-year-old became involved in the argument.
The victim tried to run away when shots were fired, but he was struck twice in the back and taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in critical condition, police said.
It was not immediately known whether the man shot had any gang affiliation.
The three alleged gang-members got back into the Camry after the shooting and fled south on La Crosse Avenue.
A teenager was wounded during a Tuesday night shooting in the Southwest Side’s Marquette Park neighborhood.
A 17-year-old boy and his friend were walking south in the 6600 block of South Albany Avenue when two people approached, yelled gang slogans and opened fire about 8:10 p.m., police said.
The teen was shot in the thigh, police said. The boy’s friend was not wounded.
Fire Media Affairs Director Larry Langford said the teen was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in serious condition.
The gunmen fled after the shooting and nobody is in custody early Wednesday, police said.
Wentworth Area detectives are investigating the shooting as possibly gang-related.
Earlier in the day, a man was fatally shot during a home invasion in the West Side’s Lawndale community.
Richardo Lee, 59, was shot at his home and pronounced dead at 11:11 a.m. at Mount Sinai Hospital, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.
About 10:40 a.m., an unidentified person kicked in the door to Lee’s home and demanded money, police said.
The robber then shot Lee in the chest, police said.
It was not immediately known how much money, if any, the intruder stole, police said.
Police are investigating the home invasion and shooting as possibly drug related, police said.
Police often report a spike in crime when winter weather breaks, but, with the 29th Chicago Public School student being shot to death this week, Chicago's street violence among teens and youth seems to be immune to weather.
