Police Supt. David Brown had a message for the people responsible for a mass shooting that wounded 14 people — three of them children — Halloween night: “You did not get away with this, and you are not going to get away with this.”
The drive-by shooting on Oct. 31 in East Garfield Park rocked the community and left children as young as 3 wounded. On Nov. 3, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Brown, local leaders and pastors joined hundreds of neighbors to pray for the victims at California Avenue and Polk Street, where the shooting happened.
The 14 victims are alive, but some remain in critical condition. One victim was present at the vigil. Eleven of the 14 shot are related, according to the Sun-Times.
Brown said police have strong leads from video cameras around the neighborhood and are deploying “every resource this department has” to find the person responsible.
The top cop appealed for anyone with information to contact police. A $15,000 reward is being offering for tips leading to an arrest. People can submit anonymous tips online at: new.tipsubmit.com/en/create-report/anonymous/ChicagoPD
People listen to politicians speak at a vigil Nov. 2 held at the location of a mass shooting that happened in East Garfield Park on Oct. 31. | Jim Vondruska/Block Club Chicago 
People listen to politicians speak at a vigil Nov. 2 held at the location of a mass shooting that happened in East Garfield Park on Monday October 31st. The shooting left 14 wounded including 3 children. | Jim Vondruska/Block Club Chicago 
A woman prays at a vigil Nov. 2 held at the location of a mass shooting that happened in East Garfield Park on Oct. 31. | Jim Vondruska/Block Club Chicago
Lightfoot said what should’ve been a fun and peaceful Halloween night for children full of joyful memories turned into a mass tragedy in seconds.
“We have to ask ourselves why does this continue to happen? We know that unfortunately gun violence is not unique to Chicago. But that’s cold comfort to the families who are devastated by gunfire and those harms that ripple throughout their lives and their family’s lives for a lifetime,” Lightfoot said.
“… Tragedies like this will continue to happen unless this city, our young men give up their addiction to guns. We have too many illegal guns on our streets. Last year our police department took 12,000 illegal firearms off the street and yet we know that is only the tip of the iceberg.”
The mayor said the city “must lift our voices in an unmistakable chorus” to reject the violence ripping apart our city.
“Someone knows who is responsible for this tragedy, some mother’s son who committed this act is now hiding in plain sight,” Lightfoot said, calling for the people responsible to turn themselves in and people with knowledge of the crimes “to speak up.”
Terry Young, co-founder of Black Men United, called for the same resources to be deployed for the East Garfield Park mass shooting Halloween night as Highland Park had following the mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade left seven dead and 46 people shot or injured escaping violence.
“We’ve been going through this all the time, and it’s not normal,” he said.
At 9:20 p.m., a group of people were standing on corner of California Avenue and Polk Street at a vigil when two people in a dark SUV fired shots, police said. Fourteen people were shot — including three children who were 3, 11 and 13 years old — and a driver hit a woman who was trying to run away from the shooting, police said.
One car was involved in the shooting, but investigators think there were at least two shooters, Brown said. It was not clear what led up to the shooting, he said.
The victims and their conditions as of Nov. 1
- A 3-year-old boy was shot in both his legs and was in serious condition
- An 11-year-old girl was shot in her leg and was in serious condition
- A 13-year-old boy was shot in his torso and leg and was in serious condition
- A 56-year-old woman was shot in her torso and was in serious condition
- A 31-year-old man was shot in his leg and was in good condition
- A woman of unknown age was shot in her torso
- A 37-year-old man was shot in his torso and was in critical condition
- A 51-year-old man was shot in his torso and was in serious condition
- A 35-year-old woman was shot in her leg and was in good condition
- A 48-year-old woman was shot in her leg and was in good condition
- A 48-year-old man was shot in his head and was in critical condition
- A 47-year-old woman was shot in her leg and was in good condition
- A 40-year-old woman was shot in her leg and was in good condition
- A 32-year-old woman was shot in her leg and was in good condition
- The woman who was hit by a driver had scrapes and was in fair condition
The victims were Mount Sinai, Stroger, Northwestern and Loyola hospitals.
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