A drive-by shooting on Chicago's west side on Halloween night left at least 14 people injured including three children, according to police authorities.
A 3-year-old girl who suffered gunshot wounds to both legs was the youngest victim and was in serious condition.
On Monday, around 9.30p.m a crowd of people was gathered for a vigil near the intersection of California Avenue and Polk Street in Chicago, "when two unidentified occupants traveling in a dark SUV began shooting, " police said.
No fatalities were immediately reported, but police warned that this may change as victims received medical attention in several Chicago hospitals.
Chicago Police Superintendent David O'Neal Brown stated at a news conference that police have launched a preliminary investigation and are looking for suspects.
It's unclear if the shooters intended to target those attending the vigil or if they were random drivers passing through the busy junction that evening.
Superintendent Brown said the drive-by shooting ended in "seconds." A Police report, however, said 13 people were shot, correcting Brown's earlier statement that up to 14 people had been shot.
The report further said that a woman was hit by a car as she tried to flee the scene but she was "in fair condition," on Tuesday.
Five of the victims, including children aged three, eleven, and thirteen were in "serious" condition, and at least two of them were in critical condition.
Police said the SUV fled south after the incident and as of early Tuesday no suspect had been taken into custody.
Gun violence has long been prevalent in Chicago. A study by the Brookings Institution revealed that gun homicides in Chicago in 2019 and 2020 "were concentrated in neighborhoods far from the city center that has long suffered from severe disinvestment as a result of white flight, and are now centers of concentrated poverty with predominantly Black residents".
East Garfield Park, the scene of Monday night's drive-by shooting in Chicago is one of such neighborhoods ,the Institute said.
According to an ABC7 Chicago report, before the shooting, police said at least 35 people had been shot during the weekend.
The drive-by shooting is one of nine mass shootings that took place over the Halloween holiday in different parts of the United States, from Florida to California, according to the Washington Post.
Gun Violence Archive, GVA a nonprofit research organization that keeps track of fatalities through police statements and news reports, claims that at least 10 people were killed and 46 others were hurt in the mass shootings from Friday night through Monday night, including the one in Chicago.
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