By Elvia Malagon and Rosemary Regina Sobol
Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO — The woman pleaded with police. Could they bring her the jacket of the man lying dead on the street so she could see if it was her brother?
A white sheet covered the body along Garfield Boulevard in Washington Park, and Chicago police cars blocked whatever view might have given her some clues.
Soon her phone rang. “It’s him,” she screamed.
Through sobs, the woman cried out that her family had been searching for him all day.
“This (expletive) has to stop,” said another woman standing not far away as rain fell.
The man, whose name has not yet been released, was Chicago’s 200th homicide this year, according to data kept by the Tribune. The city reached the grim milestone just four days later than last year, which was the most violent in decades.
The man, in his mid-20s, was in the 5400 block of South Indiana Avenue around 7:45 p.m. Monday when several people approached and shots were fired, police said. He was hit several times and died on the scene.
While the number of homicides this year are on the same pace as last year, the number of people shot and wounded is down by more than a hundred despite a violent weekend that saw 10 people shot at a memorial in the Brighton Park neighborhood Sunday.
As of Monday, at least 1,114 people have been shot in Chicago this year compared with 1,239 this time last year, according to Tribune data.
The Washington Park neighborhood, on the South Side, has logged at least four homicides this year. Last year, there were a total of 12 homicides, according to Tribune data.
At the scene of Monday night’s homicide, a young man screamed when a white work van arrived to pick up the body.
Officers moved their cars, revealing the man’s body on the sidewalk. Two workers placed the body in the van and drove off while officers began taking down red and yellow crime scene tape that zigzagged the crime scene.
Family and friends remained huddled together on Garfield Boulevard as more people arrived. A family member there declined to comment.
The shooting was one of three that happened within a two-hour period Monday on the South Side.
• In Gresham about 9:20 p.m., a 28-year-old man was shot in the legs while in the 1600 block of West 81st Street. He took himself to Roseland Community Hospital, where his condition was stabilized.
• About 8:45 p.m. on the Far South Side, an 18-year-old man was shot in the 10100 block of South Avenue N in the East Side neighborhood. He was sitting in a vehicle when someone shot him in the head, police said. He was taken in serious condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, police said.
No arrests have been made in the shootings.
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