A man with a record of arrests for murder, attempted murder and carjacking has been charged with opening fire on a West Side Halloween party over the weekend, wounding at least 15 people, Chicago police announced Tuesday.
William Groves, 48, faces 15 counts of attempted murder for the attack early Sunday in the 1200 block of South Pulaski Road, Chicago police Supt. Larry Snelling said at a news conference with Mayor Brandon Johnson, State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, U.S. Rep Danny Davis and Ald. Monique Scott (24th).
Groves was one of 100 partygoers at Studio 1258, an art gallery that police said has a “history of throwing unlicensed events.” He was ejected from the party after a “disturbance inside,” then returned with a gun, “firing into the crowd,” Snelling said.
“He is a convicted felon who should not have had a gun,” the superintendent said.
Groves was convicted in 2008 of attempted murder. His record also includes arrests for murder, carjacking, kidnapping and armed robbery, according to court documents. Groves will appear in court Tuesday afternoon.
The nine men and six women wounded range in age from 26 to 53, police said. Two of them were critically wounded, while the others were listed in good-to-fair condition.
Their conditions have improved and no injuries appear to be life-threatening, police said Tuesday.
“We need to focus on the victims and support for them moving forward,” Snelling said. “To everyone affected by this shooting and to our North Lawndale neighbors, we’re standing with you.”
Chicago police will open a victim's assistance center from noon to 7 p.m. Tuesday at YMEN, 1241 S. Pulaski Road, down the street from the scene of the attack.
“The same support that shows up for communities when they experienced mass shootings outside of the city of Chicago — that’s the same support that has to be on display for the people of Chicago, nothing less,” Johnson said.
Johnson, Snelling and Foxx credited partygoers with providing the information needed to make a quick arrest.
“Oftentimes when incidents like this happen, particularly in a close-knit neighborhood ... people are afraid to speak up,” Foxx said. “Usually it might take days or weeks for someone to come and say that they’ve seen something. In the immediate aftermath of this, the residents of Lawndale, the people who were at that party, spoke.”
“For those residents to work with the 10th District detectives, to also work with our office, to allow for us to be confident in our charging decisions this morning is a testament to the community stepping up and advocating on behalf of their city,” Foxx said.
Jasmine Carter attended the party with her sister and cousin. As gunshots rang out, she spotted her sister across the room. “She kept screaming, ‘My leg! My leg!’ She was limping and losing blood,” Carter said.
Carter and a cousin stayed with her sister as she dropped to the floor, while people around them were “running and hitting the floor.”
“Everybody was just screaming, ‘Help! Help!’” she said. “I was scared and mad and screaming for the ambulance. The first ambulance on the scene helped a woman who was inside, near the front door. She was badly hurt.”
Carter’s sister suffered gunshot wounds to her arm, buttocks, back of her knee and her leg. She was among those more seriously hurt.
The shooting took place almost a year after 14 people were shot on Halloween night in the East Garfield Park neighborhood.
“That this has happened this year, when we had a similar incident around this time last year .... This should be shocking to our systems,” Foxx said. “This should shake us to our core. We should not have to watch incidents in Maine, or in Texas, or in other places to have our heartstrings pulled. ... We must invest in these communities, we must invest in the healing that is necessary for those who have been impacted by this extraordinary display of violence and we must hold this individual accountable.”
Grove has been charged with 32 felony counts: 15 counts of attempted murder, 15 counts of aggravated battery, one count of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, and one count of firing in an occupied building.
Foxx said her office has filed a petition to detain him pretrial.
How Grove, a convicted felon, was able to get a weapon remains under investigation, police officials said Tuesday. Police also continue to investigate whether there were additional shooters, Snelling said.
The event space, Studio 1258, will be closed under the city’s summary closure ordinance, which gives the police department the power to immediately shut down businesses associated with violence.
The business previously received a cease-and-desist order and citations for operating without proper licenses, a spokesperson for the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection said in a statement.
Foxx said her office will continue to investigate all aspects of the “unsanctioned party.”
