Four people were killed by gunfire and 14 others hospitalized overnight after a drive-by shooting outside a private nightclub event in Chicago, police said on Thursday.
At least three were in critical condition. City news outlets reported that the incident happened after a launch party for the new album by the local rap star Mello Buckzz and that her boyfriend was one of those shot.
The shooting happened around midnight in Chicago’s River North neighborhood. CBS News reported that as people were leaving the album launch party, a black SUV drove up and three people inside opened fire on the crowd.
The vehicle then immediately drove away and the suspects were still at large, the police said.
“I can only describe it as a war zone,” Chicago pastor Donovan Price, who responds to communities and people in crisis, told the Associated Press. “Just mayhem and blood and screaming and confusion as people tried to find their friends and phones. It was a horrendous, tragic, dramatic scene.”
Preliminary information from police said 13 women and five men ranging in age from 21 to 32 were shot, and that the dead included two men and two women. Those shot were taken to multiple hospitals, police said.
Police said that nine people, including the two women who died, were taken to Northwestern hospital. Five people, including the two men who died, were taken to John H Stroger hospital. At least three people were critically injured.
The Cook county medical examiner’s office identified the two men who died as Leon Andrew Henry, 25, and Devonte Terrell Williamson, 23. The two women who died had yet to be identified as of Thursday morning.
Larry Snelling, superintendent of the Chicago police department, called the shooting a “cowardly act” at a Thursday news conference. He said the shooting had been isolated to a location rented out for a specific event.
“In a matter of seconds, they were able to shoot 18 people, taking four lives,” he said.
Mello Buckzz later issued a statement with few details about what happened or the condition or identity of those shot, but saying: “feel like everything just weighing down on me.”
The statement also said: “Prayers up for all my sisters, God please wrap yo arms around every last one of them. We need yo, I need you … I’m f$#!ed up [sic] … all I can do is talk to God and pray.”
The Associated Press contributed reporting
