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Chicago passes 1K gunshot victims for the year

The city reached the grim milestone four days later than last year, which saw the worst gun violence in two decades

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Chicago police officers investigate the area where two people were shot in the 6400 block of South Eberhart Avenue on April 24, 2017, in Chicago, Ill.

Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/TNS

By Heather Schroering, Rosemary Regina Sobol and Elvia Malagon
Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO — Two people were killed and five others were wounded over a single hour in Chicago on Monday as the number of gunshot victims this year passed the 1,000 mark.

The city reached the grim milestone four days later than last year, which saw the worst gun violence in two decades, according to data kept by the Tribune.

As of Tuesday morning, at least 1,008 had been shot in Chicago this year. Last year, the city passed the 1,000 mark on April 20.

There have been at least 182 homicides this year, just two fewer than this time last year, according to Tribune data.

Propelling the numbers was a burst of violence over the weekend that continued into the beginning of the week.

Seven people were killed and 31 others were wounded over the weekend. Ten of the shootings occurred over seven hours Sunday, according to police.

From Monday morning through early Tuesday, three people were fatally shot and 13 others were wounded. That includes five double shootings on the South Side.

One of the double shootings took place in the Englewood neighborhood and left a 19-year-old man dead.

The man and a 17-year-old boy were shot while they were walking in the 6900 block of South Honore Street about 7:30 p.m., police said.

The shooter got out of a black car and opened fire at them, police said. The 19-year-old man was hit in the chest and was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead.

The 17-year-old was shot in the buttocks and leg. His condition was stabilized at the same hospital, police said.

On the West Side a minute after the shooting on Honore, a 31-year-old man was shot in the head while driving an SUV, in the 2900 block of West Washington Boulevard in the East Garfield Park neighborhood, police said.

He crashed into a parked Hyundai Sonata, then hit a Chevrolet Malibu that had been traveling west, police said.

The man suffered gunshot wounds to the head and was pronounced dead at the scene.

A 31-year-old man who was a passenger in the Malibu was taken to Norwegian American Hospital for minor injuries.

Around 2:25 p.m. on the South Side, a 55-year-old man was shot in the face and chest in the 6900 block of South Dorchester Avenue in the Grand Crossing neighborhood. He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he died, police said.

Officers responding to a call of a person shot found the man unresponsive in the stairwell of a building.

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©2017 the Chicago Tribune

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