Chicago shooting spree not in season

CHICAGO (WLS) — A violent weekend in Chicago has left at least 31 people shot since Friday afternoon, and six of the shooting victims have died.

A 12-year-old and a 14-year-old were among those wounded. Authorities say the boys were shot about 11:30 p.m. Saturday in the 5300 block of West Madison. One of them was hurt critically.
As crews were responding to that shooting, a third person was shot, just around the corner. And just 40 minutes earlier, three men were shot, less than a block away.

The shooting numbers sound like cause for alarm, but that is not what Chicago police are saying. A spokesperson says the rash of violence is not all that unusual.

“Crime breeds with warm weather. More people are outside. It’s just a given we’re going to see a bit more activity,” said Chicago Police Spokesperson Monique Bond.

Still, Chicago police made their presence felt Saturday night in the Roseland neighborhood. They held roll call just a few blocks from where 34-year-old Marcus Hendricks died Friday night.

Hendricks owned a plumbing business. His family says he was killed after a former employee tried to rob him.

“My brother was a dynamic, compassionate giving person. Very generous. And that’s how he found himself in this predicament having hired an ex-convict. Giving people a second chance; he believed in that,” said Sharon Hendricks, the victim’s sister.

As officers were investigating the shooting, they said someone opened fire on them with an AK-47. Prosecutors have now charged 39-year-old Bennie Teague with Hendricks murder and with attempted murder for firing on police.

For the first three months of the year 2008, Chicago police report the number of murders is down 1.1 percent. Eighty-one percent of the city’s murders involved gun, and 30 percent are classified as gang-related. Fifteen percent involve robberies, and 11 percent arose out of domestic disputes.

One more statistic: over the last three months, 69 percent of the murders in Chicago happened outside. That’s why every year police can say with certainty, as the weather warms up and more people are out and about, that stat is sure to rise.

So ,what advice do police have for people who are concerned about crime?

“What neighbors can do, if they have info about gangs or other suspicious activities or people with guns, they should call 9-1-1. Call the police,” Bond said.