Chicago Hospital Reached Capacity After So Many Shootings This Weekend

Source: Chicago Tribune / Getty

One Chicago Hospital Reached Capacity After So Many Shootings This Weekend

This past weekend was filled with violence throughout the United States.

We all witnessed back-to-back shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, and while the nation mourned these tragedies with vigils and commemorative events, gunmen in Chicago were wreaking havoc on the city that’s know to be plagued with violence.

Dozens of people were shot over the weekend in Chicago, leaving seven people dead and 46 wounded since Friday evening, CBS Chicago reported. The city experienced two mass shootings within a four-hour span early Sunday morning.

According to Chicago police, a gunman in a Chevrolet Camaro opened fire on bystanders at a barbecue in Douglas Park just after 1 a.m. on Sunday. Two other women were shot within an hour just a few blocks away, the Chicago Tribune reported. And on top of that, just before 4 a.m., another eight people were shot, including one fatality in the Lawndale neighborhood.

All in all, 17 people were shot just during early Sunday morning alone. A local hospital even had to temporarily stop accepting patients because it was filled to capacity due to the frequent shootings. According to NBC Chicago, local officials said the three shootings early Sunday were all gang- and narcotics-related, though it is still possible that some of the victims were just bystanders.

Eddie Johnson, the superintendent of the Chicago Police Department said, “I’m going to stop myself from becoming political here, but you have to stop and ask yourself, ‘What more will it take before we get a handle on what’s going on, not just in Chicago but across the county?'”

The shootings in Chicago came right after another mass shooting at a New York City block party, where two gunmen opened fire in the middle of a block party. Within hours of the Brooklyn shooting, a gunman opened fire on attendees during the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California.

Two other mass shootings occurred this weekend in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio.