A large Fourth of July gathering in Englewood turned violent early Wednesday morning when five people were shot, one fatally, and a man was beaten.
Chicago’s top cop said police should have dispersed the crowd hours before the incident unfolded.
“Something more should have been done,” interim Chicago Police Supt. Fred Waller said, though he did not respond when asked whether police had been called to the scene earlier.
He provided few details on the attack but said that more than 100 shots were fired shortly before 5 a.m. as a group celebrated July Fourth in the 5600 block of South Ada Street.
“That just didn’t come from one side,” Waller said.
The shooting occurred at the close of a long holiday weekend that saw at least 73 people shot across the city, 10 of them fatally.
A Tyrone Moore, 35, suffered a gunshot wound to his chest and was transported to University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.
Another man, 23, was shot in the abdomen and taken to the same hospital in critical condition.
A 27-year-old man, a 29-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman were shot and taken to hospitals where their conditions were stabilized.
A man, 21, was beaten and suffered injuries to his head, police said. He was taken to Stroger Hospital. Earlier, police said he had died but later said he was still alive.
On Wednesday afternoon, signs of the holiday party remained at the scene. Spent fireworks, empty alcohol bottles and red plastic cups littered the corner of 56th and Ada. Red and yellow police tape — some still attached to fences and light poles— snaked in the afternoon breeze.
According to neighbors, residents on the block let off fireworks and have cookouts in front of their homes to celebrate the holiday every year. But the crowd was especially large this year.
Hundreds of people packed the block Tuesday to celebrate July 4, another neighbor said, adding that it took him several minutes to drive a few feet through the crowd. But most of those gathered had dispersed by the time the shooting broke out.
“If they would have been out here when they were doing the shooting it would have been more than 200 people dead,” said the man, who asked not to be named for his safety.
A woman who said she’s lived on the block for years said violence doesn’t often break out in the area.
“It’s actually shocking,” said the woman. “This is normally a quiet block.”
