4-year-old boy among 35 people shot in Chicago weekend violence

CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) - A 4-year-old boy and an 89-year-old man were among 35 people shot across the city from Friday evening to Monday morning, a period that also saw four homicides.

The most recent deaths were the latest of 377 people fatally shot in the city this year, according to data maintained by the Chicago Sun-Times. In all, more than 2,150 people have been shot since the start of the year.

About 5:15 p.m. Friday, the 4-year-old was in the Austin neighborhood’s 5200 block of West Kamerling with 28-year-old Nikia Betts and a 19-year-old man when gunfire erupted, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Betts, who lived in the same neighborhood, was shot in the head and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she died at 5:54 p.m., authorities said. The boy and man were both shot in the arm and taken in good condition to Stroger Hospital.

A man was shot to death about 12:20 a.m. Monday in the Belmont Central neighborhood on the Northwest Side. Ramon Flores, 21, was standing near a porch in the 2400 block of North Meade when another male fired shots from across the street, police and the medical examiner’s office said. Flores, who lived in the neighborhood, suffered a gunshot wound to the right arm, which penetrated his chest. He was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he was pronounced dead at 12:57 a.m.

About 4:30 p.m. Sunday, a 20-year-old man was found unresponsive in the backyard of a home in the 9800 block of South Peoria in the Longwood Manor neighborhood on the Far South Side, authorities said. The man had suffered a gunshot wound to the back and was pronounced dead at the scene less than 30 minutes later. His identity has not been not released.

Another fatal shooting happened about 10:45 p.m. Friday in the Marquette Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side. Eugene Winters, 18, was shot in the head while standing with two other people in the 2500 block of West Lithuanian Plaza Court, authorities said. He died at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn about 45 minutes later. Additionally, a 33-year-old woman was grazed in the head and taken to the same hospital in serious condition, along with a 34-year-old man who was shot multiple times in the left shoulder. His condition was stabilized.

The 89-year-old man was sitting in front of a Lawndale neighborhood business about 6:30 p.m. Friday in the 4200 block of West Cermak when a shooter in a gray van opened fire at another person outside who ran away, police said. A bullet grazed the elderly man’s arm, and he declined to be taken to a hospital. Later, a 32-year-old man hurt in the same shooting showed up at Mount Sinai with a foot wound.

The weekend’s latest shooting happened about 4:30 a.m. Monday in the Cragin neighborhood on the Northwest Side. A 20-year-old man was walking through the gangway of a home in the 2000 block of North Laporte when a male walked up, pulled out a gun and fired in his direction, police said. The man suffered a graze wound to the back and refused medical attention.

At least 24 more people were wounded in Chicago shootings between 9 p.m. Friday and 5 a.m. Monday.