CHICAGO _ A crowd of people outside a Chicago hospital's emergency room, waiting for news about a man who was shot and taken there earlier in the day, were wounded in a drive-by shooting Saturday night, police and people at the scene said.
Two women, both 35, were shot outside Mount Sinai Hospital on the city's West Side about 8 p.m., police said. Both women were shot in their lower bodies and were being treated at the hospital. Their conditions were not known, police said.
The women were standing with a group of people who went to the hospital after the shooting of a 25-year-old man on the West Side about 3:10 p.m., said the man's aunt, Amanda Morris.
Hospital staff did not let them inside the building, so they gathered outside, Morris said. It's a common sight outside the private hospital, which routinely denies entry to relatives of gunshot victims.
While Morris' nephew was undergoing surgery, a car pulled up alongside the hospital and began shooting into the group, Morris said.
Three people in the car were wearing masks, said one woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of safety concerns.
The shooters didn't say anything before they opened fire, Morris said. "Nothing but gunfire," Morris said. "They just pulled up and started shooting."
One of the women shot outside is the sister of the man who was shot earlier, Morris said. The other woman is a cousin, she said.
As of about 9 p.m., Morris had moved to the hospital's main entrance with about 30 other people who weren't allowed inside as the hospital was apparently put on lockdown.
"We are still standing outside the hospital waiting to find out what's going on with our families and loved ones," Morris said.
"What kind of city do we live in?"
Earl Wilson, 56, was there too, waiting to pick up his cousin from an unrelated hospital visit.
He said he heard about 15 gunshots as he walked toward the hospital.
Police officers placed about 22 evidence markers to show where the shell casings fell outside the emergency room. Several bullets pierced cars parked in front of the hospital.
Nearby, Marcus Gilmore, 43, said he got a call that a family member was shot at Mount Sinai and rushed over from his home in Oak Park. His niece, one of the women standing outside the ER, was shot in the back and leg, relatives told him.
"I never would have thought something like this would happen when you come to the hospital," he said.
