1 dead, 10 wounded in Tuesday shootings across Chicago

(Thomas Hawk/Flickr)

A man was killed and at least 10 other people, including a 6-year-old girl, were wounded in shootings Tuesday on the South and West sides

Anthony J. Nicholas, 38, was standing outside about 6:40 p.m. in the 6700 block of South East End when another male walked up and opened fire, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He lived in the same block.

Nicholas was shot in the chest and taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:40 p.m., authorities said.

Police said a person of interest has been taken into custody in connection with the homicide. Charges were pending early Wednesday.

A stray bullet hit the 6-year-old girl who was sitting on her front porch Tuesday afternoon in the West Englewood neighborhood, leaving her in critical condition, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.

As Tacarra Morgan sat with her mom and grandmother on the front steps of her grandparents’ home in the 6000 block of South Paulina Street about 1 p.m., a shooting began to unfold a block north.

Someone in a white sport utility vehicle opened fire on a group of people standing in the 5900 block of South Paulina, CPD First Deputy Supt. John Escalante said from the scene of the crime.

Several people from the targeted group began running south. The shooter from the white SUV pursued the group and again opened fire.

“Shots were fired southbound, and unfortunately this poor little girl just happened to be out in front of her house,” Escalante said.

As of 4:30 p.m., Tacarra was out of surgery and in critical “but stable” condition, police said.

“If you’re the average citizen sitting at home and this doesn’t make you angry, then I don’t know what will because a 6-year old playing on her porch should not have been a victim of this senseless gun violence,” Escalante said.

About 11:55 p.m. Tuesday, a man was shot in the East Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side.

Officers responding to a call of shots fired in the 3700 block of West Ferdinand found a 22-year-old man at a nearby business suffering from a gunshot wound to the left leg, police said. He told investigators he had heard gunfire and felt pain. The man was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was listed in good condition. He was not cooperating with investigators.

About that same time, a 33-year-old man was standing on the sidewalk in the 6700 block of South East End — the same block as Tuesday’s 6:40 p.m. homicide in South Shore — when he heard gunfire and realized he’d been shot in the left leg, police said. He was taken in critical condition to Mount Sinai Hospital.

About 10:15 p.m., a 39-year-old man was shot in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood on the South Side. He man was sitting on a porch in the 7300 block of South University when a white SUV drove by and someone inside opened fire, police said. He was shot in the left leg and taken in good condition to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

Less than an hour earlier, a 31-year-old woman was wounded in a Roseland neighborhood shooting on the Far South Side. She was was sitting in a vehicle in the first block of West 110th Place when more than one male dressed in dark clothing walked out of a gangway nearby and fired shots, striking her in the right shoulder, police said. The shooters then ran away. She was taken in good condition to Roseland Community Hospital.

About 7:30 p.m. in the West Side Austin neighborhood, a 22-year-old man was driving southbound in the 200 block of South Central when another male approached his vehicle and opened fire, police said. The man was shot in the back and right arm. His vehicle crashed into a light pole and he was taken in serious condition to Stroger Hospital.

Ten minutes earlier, a 26-year-old woman was wounded in a West Garfield Park neighborhood shooting. She was in a vehicle about 7:20 p.m. traveling eastbound in the 4400 block of West Lake when someone in a dark blue van nearby fired shots, police said. She suffered a gunshot wound to the shoulder and was taken in good condition to Mount Sinai Hospital.

Earlier Tuesday afternoon, a 17-year-old boy was wounded in a separate Austin neighborhood shooting. The teenager was standing on a corner about 4:40 p.m. in the 200 block of North Laramie when someone walked up and shot him in the upper left leg, police said. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition. Police said the shooting was likely gang-related.

About 30 minutes earlier, a 38-year-old man was shot in another West Englewood neighborhood attack. He was in a vehicle in the 5700 block of South Bishop about 3:45 p.m. when he got into an argument with a group of males standing on the sidewalk, police said. One of the people on the sidewalk eventually pulled a gun and shot the man in the left calf. The man took himself to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where his condition stabilized.

Tuesday’s first shooting happened at 5:17 a.m. in the Marquette Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side. A 27-year-old man was standing in the street in the 2400 block of West 64th Street when three males walked up and one of them pulled out a gun and fired at him, police said. The man was shot in the groin and taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where his condition was stabilized. A police source said the man is a documented gang member.