Seven teens were wounded in a drive-by shooting during a gathering near St. Sabina Church in Auburn Gresham early Saturday, police said.
About 1:55 a.m., police were on patrol trying to disperse a large gathering of people in the 1200 block of West 78th Street when someone in a passing vehicle fired shots into the crowd, Chicago police said.
The victims were taken to different nearby hospitals.
- Boy, 17, in fair condition with a gunshot to the leg to Advocate Christ Medical Center
- Man, 18, in fair condition with a gunshot wound to the leg to Advocate Christ Medical Center
- Man, 19, in fair condition with gunshot wounds to the leg and arm to University of Chicago Medical Center
- Boy, 17, in fair condition with a gunshot wound to the arm to University of Chicago Medical Center
- Man, 18, in serious condition with gunshot wounds to the leg and chest to Little Company of Mary Medical Center
- Boy, 17, in fair condition with gunshot wounds to the back and leg to Holy Cross Hospital
- Man, 18, in fair condition with gunshot wounds to the leg and buttocks to University of Chicago Medical Center.
No one is in custody, and detectives are investigating.
The Rev. Michael Pfleger, pastor at St. Sabina, had spoken with residents in the neighborhood Saturday morning about the shooting. He, along with others in the church community, plan to hand out flyers seeking information and offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
“I want whoever did it caught,” Pfleger told the Sun-Times on Saturday. “To me, this is real personal. … I’m not one to support the prison system, but when you shoot kids you have to go away.”
Pfleger said that none of the injured were from the immediate area, to his knowledge. He was told the gathering was a post-prom party with attendees from across the city and suburbs. But given the proximity to his church and his efforts to curb access to guns, the attack felt personal to him.
“I think they are like me, just angry and disgusted,” Pfleger said of residents in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood.
Rev. Michael Pfleger and the St. Sabina church community are offering a reward and handing out flyers seeking information about the shooter who fired into a crowd of young people near his church.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file
He said the answer to violence isn’t more policing, snap curfews or even more jobs programs, as none of those would have kept the gathering of teens off the street Saturday morning.
Pfleger instead called on parents to keep tabs on where their kids are, for kids to avoid large gatherings promoted on social media and for the federal government to enact and enforce stricter gun controls.
“Responsible adults gotta do a better job,” he said. “I just can’t wrap my mind around a person who sees a crowd and fires into it.”
