CHICAGO _ The 70-year-old man didn't hear the chaos unfolding outside his apartment Wednesday night: The silver car spraying bullets at a crowd, the screams of five people hit by gunfire, including a young mother who would die from her wounds.
"You hear these things so often, you don't hear anymore," explained the lifelong West Side resident.
He had been watching a basketball game with a friend and learned of the shooting when he walked the friend to his car in the 3500 block of West Grenshaw Street in the Homan Square neighborhood.
The man looked around and sighed deeply. "These are young kids. They need to want to get to 70 also."
Police say a group of people were standing outside a three-flat when someone drove by around 9:45 p.m. and opened fire. One neighbor reported hearing more than 20 gunshots. Ambulances and a police cars rushed to the block as people ran in all directions.
Among those shot was Nakia Bailey, 21, who was hit in the ribs, shoulder and back. She was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she later died. She lived about a mile and a half away, in the 4100 block of West Gladys Avenue, and was the mother of a 1-year-old daughter, according to a crisis responder Dawn Valenti.
The other victims included a 15-year-old boy shot in both legs, a 17-year-old boy hit in the leg and an 18-year-old man shot twice in the leg, police said. They were all stabilized at Stroger Hospital. A 19-year-old man was shot four times in the lower back. He was taken in good condition to Mount Sinai Hospital.
No one was in custody.
Detectives wearing rain jackets knocked on doors on Grenshaw as rain pelted the crime scene, with occasional lightning flashing across the sky.
One officer spoke on the phone while a group of young people circled around her. "He's at Stroger," she told them as she hung up. "You can go see him."
A woman in pajamas sat on her porch, watching the officers. She woke up to gunshots and rushed to check on her kids.
"It's only, like, the third hot day," she said. "Who knows what the summer is going to bring."
