CHICAGO _ Four people were killed and nine others were injured in shootings across Chicago from Monday afternoon to early Tuesday, police said.
In the most recent homicide, a 56-year-old man was shot in the chest in the South Side's East Chatham neighborhood just before 1:30 a.m. Tuesday. A gunman got out of a red Camaro in the 8400 block of South Maryland Avenue and shot at the man. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead.
Earlier, a man who police estimate was between 25 and 30, suffered multiple gunshot wounds about 9:40 p.m. He was pronounced dead in a vacant parking lot in the 7900 block S. South Chicago Avenue. Police were responding to calls of gunfire in the area and found the man, who had not been identified.
On Monday afternoon, two men were fatally shot on a "nice, quiet block" Monday afternoon in the South Side's West Woodlawn neighborhood.
Officers went to the 6300 block of South St. Lawrence Avenue about 2:50 p.m. and found one man with a gunshot wound to the head, out in front of a residence. Police went around to a rear gangway and found another man unresponsive with gunshot wounds to the back and arm, according to police.
Both men were pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Resident John Moore said he had been talking to his neighbor about how quiet and peaceful it is on their block. Then seven hours later, the double homicide happened nearby.
"I guess I talked too soon," said Moore, who has lived on the street for 45 years.
His neighbor Theresa, who was afraid to provide her last name, nodded in agreement. She had been in her kitchen when she heard about a dozen shots. The retired teacher, who was born and raised in the neighborhood, said it sounded to her like rounds from two different-caliber guns.
Another neighbor, who lives a few houses down, thought the kids down the street were playing with fireworks.
"That sounds like gunfire," Ray Hope said to himself at the time.
He poked his head outside and saw several kids playing _ but he didn't see the aftermath of the shooting about 100 yards away from the kids, who were playing in the street and in his home.
As a father of two, he said he's shaken because the block is full of older people and families.
"I knew it's not the greatest neighborhood, but I thought this was a nice, quiet block," the 44-year-old-said.
For now, he said he plans on keeping his kids inside at least until the neighborhood quiets down.
Closer to the shooting, about a dozen officers blocked off the street. Yellow crime scene tape was tied to black metal gates.
A little girl in a light blue dress peered from her porch to get a closer look. She was too short to see the body covered by a white sheet a few houses down.
Moore's assessment of the street as a safe and quiet refuge is an accurate depiction of the past five years.
Monday's double homicide was the first shooting in the 6300 block of South St. Lawrence Avenue since a man was killed there in April 2012, according to Tribune data.
In January 2014, a man was killed in the 6200 block of South St. Lawrence.
