Labor Day Weekend Gun Violence Leaves 8 Dead And 46 Wounded
By Rachel Cromidas in News on Sep 8, 2015 2:30PM
Gun violence took the lives of at least 8 Chicagoans from Labor Day Weekend's start to finish, and wounded at least 46 others.
The shootings spanned the city from Rogers Park to Golden Gate, a southern neighborhood on the city's outskirts. The bloodiest stretch of the long holiday weekend was between Friday afternoon and early Saturday morning, the Tribune reports, when 19 people were shot.
Tribune crime reporter Peter Nickeas tallied up the shooting deaths using information from the police department and the medical examiner. They include Lavell Southern, a 23-year-old man from Calumet Heights who played football for Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis. but was sidelined with a knee injury, his aunt told the Tribune. Southern was fatally shot at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday near the intersection of Randolph Street and Racine Avenue.
In another fatal shooting, Shaquandra Ratliff, 20, was fatally shot in Woodlawn at about 1:30 a.m. after a fight broke out during an outdoor party held to memorialize a gang member who had died one year before. Ratliff had no gang affiliation, police said, and family members said she is survived by a 2-year-old daughter.
Summer in Chicago is known for its escalated violence, and this past Labor Day Weekend, the symbolic end of summer, was marked by significantly warmer weather and an uptick in gun violence and stabbings. Through Sept. 8, the Tribune calculates that there have been 2,054 separate shooting victims, which is up from this time last year by more than 100. There have been 341 homicides so far this year, and 18 reported homicides in September alone.