Chicago – 7 men have been injured in a shooting episode outside a pizza shop in the South side of Chicago city, authorities reported.
“At least seven people were seriously wounded in a mass shooting Sunday afternoon in South Chicago,” Chicago Sun-Times Tweeted.
On Sunday afternoon, the men were standing on the street outside the pizza shop when they were shot, cops said. Two of the victims have been reported in a critical condition, while the remaining are hurt but stable.
During a press briefing on Sunday, the superintendent of Chicago police, David Brown said, “A car pulled up near the Little Caesars and someone inside the vehicle ‘almost immediately’ opened fire.”
“Whether it was a targeted shooting or an altercation, it’s unacceptable,” he added, “A second vehicle may have been involved.”
It is yet to be determined whether the suspected car had one or more people who shot the men outside the pizza station. However, superintendent Brown interrogated the nearby residents to share any information regarding the incident.
The state police haven’t made any arrests yet. The men who got injured range in between the ages of 30s to 60s, said the officials.
Sunday’s shooting marked the resurgence of gun violence in Chicago, with 797 shootings happening in the state last year – the highest rate in the last quarter-century.
A week earlier, on March 4, two police officers got shot in the West side of Chicago and suffered non-life threatening injuries.
The suspect was taken under custody after he injured the officers outside West Garfield Park restaurant. The victims were driven to a local hospital for treatment, Chicago Police Department reported.
“The officers were taking a ‘lunch break’ during their overnight shift and had stopped to get a hot dog,” at around 3:30 am on Friday when they got shot, Superintendent David Brown said.
One of the officers was standing in the queue waiting for his turn behind the suspect when the shooter accidentally dropped a firearm from his pocket while taking out money. “The man grabbed the gun and began firing at police without warning,” Brown explained the incident. The officer in the queue suffered a head injury while the other in the car was hit in the leg. “Neither officer returned fire.”
