Chicago Had So Many Shootings This Weekend That an ER Had to Shut Its Doors
As the nation reeled this weekend from two mass shootings in Texas and Ohio less than 13 hours apart, Chicago had its most violent weekend of gun violence yet this year: 55 people were shot, seven of them fatally, and one hospital?s ER was so overwhelmed it had to close its doors temporarily.
The violence spanned at least 12 different shooting incidents on the west and south sides, starting Friday night when a young boy was shot in the leg as he sat in a car with adults around him arguing. The violence peaked early Sunday on the West Side, with three separate incidents in Douglas Park within a two-hour period, involving a combined 17 victims.
The exact number of incidents over the weekend wasn?t entirely clear. The Chicago PD did not respond to VICE News? request for comment as of press time.
There were so many victims that Mount Sinai Hospital had to stop taking them for a time. Its emergency room had received 12 shooting victims from Saturday incidents and then went to ?bypass? status sometime after midnight, according to local news outlets. ?Bypass? refers to when a hospital stops taking new patients in its ER and redirects ambulances to other local trauma centers. Mount Sinai did not clarify the exact time they stopped taking in new patients but said they resumed normal operations at 6:30 a.m. Sunday.
Chicago's top cop, Superintendent Eddie Johnson, on Sunday afternoon addressed the massive spike in shootings. He blamed the violence on disputes between rival gangs across the city, noting why information on the numerous shootings has been scarce.
?Some of our victims have quite honestly been less than forthcoming in cooperating with us,? Johnson said.
Chicago Police chief communications officer Anthony Guglielmi announced on Twitter, however, that local police are getting some federal help as they investigate the recent shootings.
?United States Attorney John Lausch has reached out to us offering the full support of his office and the [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] in investigating weekend incidents,? Guglielmi tweeted. ?This is on top of the federal prosecutors that are already embedded with CPD and State's Attorneys on the West Side.?
Source: https://news.vice.com/en_us/article...this-weekend-that-an-er-had-to-shut-its-doors
As the nation reeled this weekend from two mass shootings in Texas and Ohio less than 13 hours apart, Chicago had its most violent weekend of gun violence yet this year: 55 people were shot, seven of them fatally, and one hospital?s ER was so overwhelmed it had to close its doors temporarily.
The violence spanned at least 12 different shooting incidents on the west and south sides, starting Friday night when a young boy was shot in the leg as he sat in a car with adults around him arguing. The violence peaked early Sunday on the West Side, with three separate incidents in Douglas Park within a two-hour period, involving a combined 17 victims.
The exact number of incidents over the weekend wasn?t entirely clear. The Chicago PD did not respond to VICE News? request for comment as of press time.
There were so many victims that Mount Sinai Hospital had to stop taking them for a time. Its emergency room had received 12 shooting victims from Saturday incidents and then went to ?bypass? status sometime after midnight, according to local news outlets. ?Bypass? refers to when a hospital stops taking new patients in its ER and redirects ambulances to other local trauma centers. Mount Sinai did not clarify the exact time they stopped taking in new patients but said they resumed normal operations at 6:30 a.m. Sunday.
Chicago's top cop, Superintendent Eddie Johnson, on Sunday afternoon addressed the massive spike in shootings. He blamed the violence on disputes between rival gangs across the city, noting why information on the numerous shootings has been scarce.
?Some of our victims have quite honestly been less than forthcoming in cooperating with us,? Johnson said.
Chicago Police chief communications officer Anthony Guglielmi announced on Twitter, however, that local police are getting some federal help as they investigate the recent shootings.
?United States Attorney John Lausch has reached out to us offering the full support of his office and the [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] in investigating weekend incidents,? Guglielmi tweeted. ?This is on top of the federal prosecutors that are already embedded with CPD and State's Attorneys on the West Side.?
Source: https://news.vice.com/en_us/article...this-weekend-that-an-er-had-to-shut-its-doors
