Staff Reporter: At least 15 people were shot at a party on Chicago’s South Side early Sunday morning, leaving two dead and wounded.
Assistant Deputy Chief Paramedic Greg Stinnett told that the shooting occurred inside a South Chicago Avenue business at around 4:40 a.m.
Chicago police Superintendent David Brown told the Chicago Tribune that the shooting occurred inside a “pop-up party” at a business that operates as a towing company in the Park Manor neighborhood.
Preliminary information indicates the incident was “gang-related,” the Tribune reported, citing the official police report.
According to the report, emergency responders found one woman who had been shot three times, including once in the head, dead outside the building, and a man with gunshot wounds to his neck and leg dead in a “backroom.”
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office identified those killed as Rayneesha Dotson, 30, and Lionel Darling, 39, the Tribune reported.
“The location is a garage/ tow yard with an attached duplex apartment, which was converted to a bar/party area,” the police report stated.
A woman interviewed by the Tribune, who did not want her name used for fear of retribution, said that when she arrived at the party there were already as many as 300 people already gathered. A bullet grazed the inside of her right shin during the shooting, which she said originated from the middle of the dance floor about 10 minutes after she arrived, the outlet reported.
The preliminary investigation indicates the ages of the victims ranged from 20 to 44 years old, and Chicago fire officials confirmed seven victims were transported for medical treatment in conditions ranging from serious to critical.
“Four guns were recovered at the scene. Our detectives are continuing to do their preliminary investigation and their interviews, but several of the witnesses who were wounded are still in surgery and have yet to be interviewed, so more to come as far as any kind of motive or any additional evidence,” Brown said during a Sunday news conference.
The incident marks the second time in less than a year that 15 people were shot in a single incident in Chicago, following a shooting of 15 people last July outside a funeral home on 79th Street.
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