8 killed, 20 wounded in weekend gun violence

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Police investigate a shooting about 10:30 p.m. Friday, October 19, 2018 in the 9900 block of South Ewing Avenue in Chicago. | Justin Jackson/ Sun-Times

CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) - Eight people were killed and 20 others were wounded between about 5 p.m. Friday and 2 a.m. Monday in weekend gun violence in Chicago.

Seven people were shot Friday evening — two of them died from their wounds. On Saturday, three people were killed and four were wounded.

On Sunday, 10 more people were shot, three of them fatally. Three people were also wounded in the early hours of Monday.

Three men were wounded, one critically, between 1:20 a.m. and 1:35 a.m. Monday.

A 29-year-old was shot during a carjacking at 1:34 a.m. in the South Side Heart of Chicago neighborhood, according to Chicago police.

The man left his car running while sitting in another vehicle in the 1600 block of West Cullerton. Another man got into it, fired shots at the owner when he approached him and stole the car. The man was hit in the abdomen and was taken to Stroger Hospital where he was in critical condition, police said.

A few minutes earlier, about 1:25 a.m., two men were shot while standing on a front porch in the Park Manor neighborhood on the South Side.

Someone in a gray van fired shots at the men in the 7400 block of South Langley, striking a 27-year-old man in his chest and a 26-year-old in his buttocks. They were both taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center where the 27-year-old was in critical condition and the other man was stabilized, police said.

Three men were shot when gunfire erupted about 3:40 p.m. Sunday in the 400 block of North Springfield Avenue in East Garfield Park, Chicago police said. A 37-year-old man sitting in a vehicle was shot in his head and died shortly after at Mt. Sinai Hospital. The Cook County medical examiner’s office hasn’t released details about his death.

A 34-year-old man standing nearby was struck in the buttocks, and a third man, 32, was shot in his right leg, police said. Their injuries were not life-threatening.

Earlier Sunday, a woman and man were found shot dead inside a parked vehicle in the West Side Austin neighborhood.

Just before 2 a.m., officers found 19-year-old Keshonda Monique Maxey and 26-year-old Matrice Luster shot in the 100 block of North Lockwood Avenue, according to Chicago police and the medical examiner’s office.

Maxey suffered a gunshot wound to her head and was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. Luster was shot multiple times and taken to Stroger Hospital, where he died.

The both lived about a block away from where they were shot.

Area North detectives were conducting a homicide investigation.

Hours earlier on Saturday, a man was shot dead as he was driving in the Gage Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side.

Juan Cruz, 21, was driving east about 10:40 p.m. in the 2700 block of West 58th Street when gunfire entered his vehicle and he crashed into a parked vehicle, authorities said.

Cruz, who lived in the neighborhood, was shot in his left shoulder and taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, authorities said. He was pronounced dead less than an hour later.

At the scene of the shooting, yellow crime tape cordoned off Cruz’s black Chrysler minivan, which stood by curb with its back window shattered by bullets. Area Central detectives were investigating the homicide.

Earlier Saturday afternoon, a man was killed in East Garfield Park. It was the second homicide within 24 hours to strike the same block.

Leetemi Daniels, 41, was shot multiple times just after 2:30 p.m. in the 3100 block of West Washington Boulevard, authorities said. Daniels was struck in his abdomen and chest, and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Less than a day earlier, on Friday, 34-year-old Rodney Jernigan was fatally shot about 6:45 p.m. as he walked down a sidewalk in the same block Friday, authorities said. He was shot in his chest and head, and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Before dawn Saturday, a fatal double shooting struck the Albany Park neighborhood on the Northwest Side.

Two men were sitting in a vehicle parked in an alley about 5:20 a.m. in the 4400 block of North Bernard Street when someone approached on foot and opened fire, police said.

Roberto Ramirez, 23, was shot in his head and was pronounced dead at the scene, police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. Ramirez lived a block away from where he was shot.

The other man, 22 years old, was shot in the face and taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center in critical condition, police said.

Late Friday, a man was shot and killed in the East Side neighborhood. Jesus Gomez, 39, was standing among a group of people about 9:25 p.m. in the 3600 block of East 99th Street when two males inside a passing vehicle fired shots, authorities said.

Gomez, who was from the South Chicago neighborhood, suffered a gunshot wound to the back and was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he died at 10:09 p.m., authorities said.

No one was in custody, and Area South detectives were conducting a homicide investigation.

Last weekend, citywide gun violence left 27 people shot, three of them fatally.