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U.S. NEWS Monday 23 deceMber 2019

Chicago police: 13

wounded in shooting

at memorial party

CHICAGO (AP) — A shoot- low-income stretch of the
ing early Sunday at a house city roughly 10 miles (16 kilo-
party held in honor of meters) southwest of down-
someone who was killed in town that has high crime.
April left 13 people wound- The shooting started inside,
ed, four of them critically, then more shots were fired
Chicago police said. as people began spilling
The shooting stemmed out of the house. Shots Chicago police guard a crime scene in the 5700 block of S. May
from a dispute at the me- were also fired at a third Street in Chicago after several people were shot there on Sun-
morial party, Chief of Patrol place nearby, Waller said. day, Dec. 22, 2019.
Fred Waller said at an early He described the shooting Associated Press
morning news conference. as an "isolated incident."
He said shots were first fired The shooting comes as tion. Lightfoot, who met edy and frankly an incred-
just after 12:30 a.m. the city has been on the with victims at the Univer- ible act of cowardice," she
The victims range in age verge of closing out 2019 sity of Chicago Hospital, told reporters. "People in
from 16 to 48 and suffered with sizable drops in shoot- urged those with informa- that house know what hap-
"different and various gun- ings and homicides for the tion about the shooting pened and we've urged
shot wounds to their bod- third straight year. Through to come forward, even if them to overcome their
ies." roughly mid-December, they want to do so anony- fears and come forward
Two people were being about 475 people were mously. "It's a terrible trag- with information."q
questioned, Waller said. killed, compared with 549
One of them was arrested in 2018, which is a 14%
with a weapon, he said, drop. In 2016, the number
while the other was wound- of homicides was roughly
ed. Waller said police re- 750, according to Chicago
covered a revolver. police data. The declines
"It looked like they were happened citywide, in-
just shooting randomly at cluding in historically high-
people as they exited the crime areas. Still, Chicago
party," Waller said. still has more violent crime
Waller did not provide de- than New York and Los An-
tails on the person who geles. Both cities had about
was being memorialized, 1,800 shooting victims com-
including who the person bined, while Chicago has
was. Chicago Mayor Lori had about 2,500 this year,
Lightfoot, who visited vic- according to the Chicago
tims Sunday, said the party Tribune, which tracks shoot-
was celebrating the birth- ings. Police have credited
day of a person who had Chicago's drop in crime to
been killed. the use of technology used
Waller described three dif- to predict where shootings
ferent shooting scenes at might occur, while experts
the residential location in also credit anti-violence
the city's Englewood neigh- programs that offer jobs
borhood, a predominantly and gang conflict media-