1 killed, 13 wounded Sunday in Chicago gun violence

CHICAGO (SUN TIMES MEDIA WIRE) - One person was killed and 13 were wounded Sunday in gun violence across Chicago.

The homicide took place outside a birthday party early Sunday in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side.

A former Chicago Public Schools employee was shot dead and three others were wounded about 2:25 a.m. when they gathered in the 1200 block of West 73rd Place, Chicago Police and the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office said. Two people in a passing SUV opened fire and shot 35-year-old Ari Armour in his head and back. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

“He cared too much to be taken so soon,” Antonio Carter, Armour’s longtime friend, told the Sun-Times. “He was a father, husband, brother, uncle and friend and this can’t be life for my people.”

Other victims of the shooting included a 25-year-old woman and two men, ages 19 and 32, police said. They were taken to local hospitals.

Later in the afternoon, a kids’ ride turned into a crime scene when a man was shot at a Little Village carnival right next to a Cook County courthouse. As young children waited their turn to use a handful of rides at a carnival that spanned three blocks, a group of men started arguing about 5:05 p.m. near the festival’s entrance at 26th Street and California Avenue, according to police.

At some point during the argument, one of the men took out a gun and opened fire. A 26-year-old was struck in the right leg, police said. His condition stabilized at Mount Sinai Hospital.

About 100 yards from the shooting, a dad stood with his 8-year-old daughter as she waited in line at a tea cups ride. The father, who asked not to be named, said he saw the group of men arguing as they slowly moved toward the entrance of the carnival. Moments later, he saw a crowd of people screaming and running away from the entrance, so he grabbed his daughter and moved her away.

“We live two blocks from here, and we came to this carnival last year, too,” he said. “You just try to have something fun for the kids, and this happens.” Police said Sunday evening that they’re speaking to two people of interest in the shooting, but nobody was in custody.

In other shootings Sunday:

• about 11:05 p.m., a 32-year-old man was shot on a sidewalk in West Woodlawn on the South Side;
• a 21-year-old man was shot about 10:50 p.m. in his face, neck and back in West Chatham. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition, police said;
• about 9:30 p.m., a 24-year-old man was shot while driving on Lake Shore Drive in Lake View;
• about 8:30 p.m., a man was shot in his leg in the Douglas Park neighborhood on the West Side. He drove himself to a hospital and was in good condition;
• a 15-year-old boy and a 30-year-old man were both shot about 5:10 p.m. in the West Garfield Park neighborhood;
• about 12:15 p.m., someone riding a bicycle rode up to a man sitting in a vehicle and shot him in the arm in West Garfield Park;
• about 9 a.m., a 22-year-old man was shot in his back and abdomen in East Garfield Park; and
• about 6:40 a.m., a man was shot in his buttocks, back and leg in Bronzeville, police said.

On Saturday, nine people were wounded in shootings across the city.