Monday reports from Chicago indicate that gunfire shattered the sound of people gathered for a nighttime vigil and trick-or-treating when fourteen people were shot in a street corner drive-by.
Investigators say the assailants are still at large according to CNN.
On Halloween night at approximately 9:30 p.m., police say two unidentified individuals in a dark-colored SUV opened fire from the vehicle at over a dozen people standing on the corner of California Avenue and Polk Street in the city’s East Garfield Park section.
Among the wounded were a 3-year-old little boy, an 11-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy, police told reporters. A fifteenth person was struck by the vehicle as it fled and the woman suffered minor lacerations.
NewsNation reported that some of the victims were still in their costumes trick-or-treating when the attack occurred.
At least 13 people were injured in a matter of seconds in a drive-by shooting in #Chicago on Halloween night. Some children were still in their costumes trick-or-treating when the shooting began.
MORE: https://t.co/yhqCPPMLq7 pic.twitter.com/K1RkDBBA1A
— NewsNation (@NewsNation) November 1, 2022
Chicago police indicated the vigil and the shooting were likely unrelated but elaborate on possible motives. Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said that persons not involved with the vigil may have been on the corner at the same time.
“There may have also been others gathered for other various reasons,” he said. “It’s a very, you know, common corner where people congregate and have different meetings and gatherings.”
According to Fox News, police said the attack lasted only about three seconds.
A bystander told WFLD-TV that they attempted to help the injured but lacked enough ambulances.
“We picked up another girl, a little girl, about 13, and we brought her to that ambulance,” the good samaritan recounted. “But the ambulance driver said, ‘No, we can’t bring her in because you have people worse.’ So we just sat her on the bumper.”
The same witness told reporters that he found a little girl with a gunshot wound to the knee and transported her to a nearby hospital. He also said he saw an adult man who was shot in the head.
“He was on the ground and they were saying he was shot in the head, and he had blood everywhere,” the man said.
“We always worry about retaliation obviously, but we don’t know enough about this, whether it involved a gang conflict or some personal conflict yet, but as soon as we know we’ll share that with the public,” Brown said according to WFLD-TV. “And obviously we’re deploying extra police resources in the area to make sure that we can prevent any retaliation if that’s something that’s real.”
CNN reported Tuesday that the shooting victims are being treated at area hospitals. Two people are in critical condition, five in serious, and six in good, according to police. The condition of the final victim remains unknown.