Memorial Day Weekend Concludes With 69 People Shot, Six Fataly; City's Violence On A Rise?

In one of the concluding shootings of the Memorial Day weekend, just around midnight, two people reportedly pulled out guns and began firing in East Garfield Park.

Officers received the first call early Tuesday reporting a person been shot on Homan Avenue, immediately followed by a second victim, and then a third. Just a few minutes later, a person walked into a hospital.

In sum, 27 people of the 69 hit by gunfire over the weekend were either shot near or in the Harrison District, which is cited as the city's most homicidal area and is heavily patrolled by law enforcement.

The number of people shot there went so high that Deputy Superintendent John Escalante assured to tone up patrols. Early Tuesday, there were update about nine more people been shot, ChicagoTribune reported.

As far as rest of the weekend shooting is concerned, it was spread out over Chicago, reaching as far as north (West Rogers Park), northwest (Jefferson Park), and far south (West Pullman) area. The violence centralized primarily on the West Side.

Although, there was a hike in the number of shootings as compared to 2015, the number of deaths dropped significantly. 12 people were killed last year, and 44 wounded during the holiday weekend. This weekend, though a total of 13 more people were shot, six fewer were actually killed.

Despite officers patrolling some of the most ungovernable areas on the city's West Side and South Side, several people were still shot in the city's most heavily guarded area. The homicide victims included James Taylor, 44, and Johan Jehan, 39. Both were killed in two unconnected Monday Night shootings, TheGuardian reported.

Many of the victims were on a "strategic subject list" of those, presumably involved in pulling the trigger, The Chicago police department said.

The department's investigation scrutinize criminal records, details from previous shootings, gang connection, as well as past contacts with officers in order to pin down if someone should be on the list because they are a probably a victim or an assaulter. The department divulged that the list encompass about 1,500 people, whom they are trying to contact before a shooting actually happens.

According to Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi, the department cannot claim its good until a Memorial Day weekend goes by without reporting a single shot being fired.