6 killed, 27 wounded in Chicago weekend shootings

SUN-TIMES MEDIA WIRE - Six people were killed, including an 11-year-old girl, and at least 27 others were wounded in shootings across the city over the holiday weekend marking Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.

The girl, Takiya Holmes, died days after she was one of two girls shot within 25 minutes of each other Saturday night.

She was sitting in the back seat of a vehicle about 7:40 p.m. in the 6500 block of South King Drive in the Parkway Gardens neighborhood when gunfire was heard and she was shot in the head. She was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 8:17 a.m. Tuesday, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

A 12-year-old girl, identified by family as Kanari Gentry, was playing outside with friends about 7:15 p.m. in the 1900 block of West 57th Street in West Englewood when shots rang out and she too was hit in the head. The girl, who was not thought to be the intended target of the shooting, was taken in critical condition to Stroger Hospital.

The weekend’s latest slaying happened at 1:55 p.m. Sunday in the South Side Auburn Gresham neighborhood. Ryan Ellis, 25, was found shot multiple times in the body in the 1400 block of West 84th Street, authorities said. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 2:30 p.m. Ellis lived in the South Chicago neighborhood.

About 10 minutes earlier, a man was killed and another wounded in a South Shore neighborhood shooting. Steven C. Jackson was standing in the 2400 block of East 75th Street at 1:44 p.m. when someone walked up and fired shots, authorities said. Jackson was shot in the face and neck and taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 2:31 p.m., authorities said. He lived in the South Shore neighborhood. A second man, 54, was found with a gunshot wound to the right thigh and was also taken to Northwestern, where his condition stabilized.

A woman was killed and three others were wounded in a shooting Saturday night in the West Side Austin neighborhood. Tenisha Mallet, 21, was outside with the group about 8:30 p.m. in the 100 block of North Mayfield when two people got out of a dark-colored SUV and opened fire. Mallet, who lived in Austin, was shot in the neck and pronounced dead at the scene at 8:40 p.m., authorities said. Also, a 25-year-old man was shot in the arm and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital; an 18-year-old man was shot in the leg and taken to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park; and a 25-year-old woman was shot in the face and taken to Stroger Hospital, police said. All of their conditions were stabilized.

Earlier Saturday, 33-year-old Taurins Pope was found shot to death in an alley a block away from the incident on Mayfield. Officers responding at 6:53 a.m. to a call of a person shot in the 100 block of North Menard found him lying on the ground with a gunshot wound to the head. Pope was pronounced dead at the scene at 7:05 a.m., authorities said. He lived in Austin.

The weekend’s first fatal shooting also happened in Austin. Keenan Turner, 29, was sitting in front of a home about 2:30 a.m. Saturday in the 300 block of North Lorel when someone walked up and shot him repeatedly across the body, authorities said. Turner was taken to West Suburban Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 2:43 a.m. He lived in the same neighborhood as the shooting.

At least 23 more people were wounded in Chicago shootings between Friday evening and Tuesday morning.

Additionally, Chicago Police officers fatally shot a woman who allegedly lunged at them with a knife Friday evening in the North Center neighborhood.

Last weekend, 22 people were shot in the city, leaving three dead. More than 400 people have been shot in Chicago in the first 44 days of the year.