CHICAGO _ Chicago police are questioning two suspected gunmen after 13 people were wounded, four of them critically, during a shooting inside a large memorial gathering early Sunday in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side, authorities said.
About 12:40 a.m., a house party _ celebrating what would've been the birthday of a man who also died as a result of gun violence. Around that time, someone inside opened fire, sending 13 people to area hospitals with gunshot wounds, according to Chicago police.
Those shot ranged in age from 16 to 48, and the 16-year-old boy was one of those in critical condition, said Fred Waller, who heads the patrol division for Chicago police.
Two suspected shooters were detained for questioning, and Officer Michael Carroll Sunday morning said no charges had been announced. Police said one of the men was shot himself, and he remained hospitalized for treatment of his gunshot wound as of a 6 a.m. news conference. The second man was in possession of a revolver when he was stopped, Waller said.
The party was in honor of the birthday of Lonell Irvin, a 22-year-old man fatally shot during an attempted carjacking April 26 in the Loop, according to multiple people at the scene.
Though Irvin also died as the result of gunfire, authorities said Irvin was wielding his own gun when he attempted to carjack a man with a license to carry a concealed handgun, who police said grabbed his weapon from the glove compartment and shot Irvin in the head. Authorities at the time categorized the shooter, who likely was rear-ended in a ploy to steal his 2015 BMW, as the victim in the fatal shooting.
Irvin's shooting was one of at least 62 in the state since Illinois started issuing concealed carry permits about six years ago, and the details of his shooting were included in the Tribune's database of shootings by CCL holders since 2014.
Waller said there was a dispute during the party and someone started shooting inside the home where the memorial was being held. Once people started running outside, video surveillance from a city police camera captured images of someone firing more shots outside the home.
A different shooter also was caught on surveillance video shooting at a vehicle, Waller said.
"From outside, definitely there was two different shooters," Waller said. "It looked like they were just shooting randomly at people as they exited the party."
Waller categorized the shooting as an "isolated" event, though it wasn't immediately clear if that meant it wasn't retaliatory. Sunday's shooting was the fourth shooting attack on the 5700 block of South May Street since 2014, according to shootings data compiled by the Tribune. The other attacks left four people wounded and one person killed, on Aug. 21. In that time, there have been 16 people shot on the blocks just north and south, according to Tribune data.
Outside the scene Sunday morning, some women huddled outside red crime scene tape still had on their colorful shirts with Irvin's face printed on top of his birth and death date. They expressed anger at how the party _ which one woman said she spent hundreds of dollars to put on _ was violently crashed by gunmen who were not invited.
"It was his birthday and they were just celebrating a memorial for somebody that passed away, and this is what they do," said a 29-year-old woman who declined to give her name, citing safety concerns. "Your kids can't grow up, you can't do nothing. This is what our life is going to be about."
In Chicago, people grieving homicide victims have faced the added danger of perpetrators lurking nearby, ready to target a gathering of the deceased's loved ones. At a vigil in Chatham in January 2017, seven people, including a 12-year-old boy, were shot while paying respects to a woman slain in a shooting that same week.
The 29-year-old woman stood for more than an hour next to where she found one of her friends clutching her chest on the northwest corner of West 57th Street and May. She had been shot but was able to talk and, before she was loaded into an ambulance, asked that someone call her daughter.
It became difficult for residents on the block to keep track of all the gunshot victims. As the 29-year-old talked about her friend who was shot, another woman, who just finished talking about watching her male friend bleed from a gunshot wound on the stairs, let out a deep sigh and accused the woman of lying.
The 16th Ward alderman Stephanie Coleman said she was alerted to the shooting by about eight phone calls from residents on the block. She said there was chaos when she arrived, but she was also grateful to see so many people wanting to help.
"I saw disappointment," Coleman told reporters Sunday morning. "I saw frustration. I saw fear. I saw lots of concerned neighbors getting to the bottom of it."
Terence Daniely, a 57-year-old who lives nearby, said he awoke to the sound of at least five gunshots. When he looked outside, it was as if the entire police district had swarmed the block, he said. With squad cars and ambulances clogging the street, some officers parked farther away and sprinted south toward the house where the memorial was held.
Daniely, who's lived on the block for about four years, said he hopes for stiffer penalties for gun offenders and more support for at-risk youth.
"It's so real, that lack of caring for life," Daniely said. "It's reckless, just reckless. How does it continually happen? When is it going to stop?"
Citywide, shootings and homicides are projected to drop by double-digit numbers for the third consecutive year, according to Chicago police data.
The 29-year-old woman was less optimistic that there was a solution to all the violence. She understood why her neighborhood was frustrated and felt police weren't helping, but she increasingly feels there's little authorities can do to stem the violence.
"Y'all can try your best to stay out here and watch these streets all night, but no matter how they do it, it's going to be multiple deaths, multiple shootings, innocent people getting shot," the 29-year-old said. "I cannot wait to leave Chicago."
Coleman said despite the gun violence Sunday, the 5700 block of South May Street was teeming with good people living in the graystone buildings. She said she had faith that 7th district Chicago police officers will work to protect the neighborhood this holiday season.
"I saw children out at 12:30 in the morning," Coleman said. "Could you only imagine? Children, out because it was just that much activity going on. We don't want this for our children, not on their Christmas break."
Tribune reporters Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas and Liam Ford contributed.
