15 hurt, including 3 children, in Chicago Halloween shooting

Chicago police work at the scene of a mass shooting near Polk Street and California Avenue on the city’s West Side on Monday, Oct. 31, 2022. Chicago Police say several people were injured in a drive-by shooting Halloween night, including three children (E. Jason Wambsgans /Chicago Tribune via AP)

CHICAGO (AP) — As many as 15 people, including three children, were injured in a drive-by shooting on Halloween night that sent shots flying into a crowd along a Chicago street corner, police said.

Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said the three juvenile victims are a 3-year-old, an 11-year-old and a 13-year-old. The others wounded by gunfire Monday night are adults ranging in age from their 30s to their 50s.

In addition, police said a woman fleeing from the shooting scene was struck by a vehicle as she crossed traffic. She was hospitalized in fair condition.

The Chicago Fire Department said it sent at least 10 ambulances to the scene in Chicago’s Garfield Park neighborhood. Brown said the victims’ conditions range from non-life threatening injuries to critical condition. No fatalities were immediately reported and police were waiting to interview the shooting victims after they received medical treatment.

Brown said the drive-by shooting happened around 9:30 p.m. and was over in a matter of seconds. It was captured on police surveillance video, which investigators are reviewing.

Preliminary information indicates there were at least two shooters seen on the video, firing indiscriminately into the crowd.

Community activist Andrew Holmes said the children shot during the incident are “just young.”

“They’re putting on an outfit just to enjoy the evening and then you got a clown that goes and discharges that weapon, bringing great bodily harm to these families,” he told WGN-TV.

Investigators are trying to determine a motive and get a description of the car and those responsible, Brown said. No one was in custody.

Brown said there were no known conflicts at the street corner Monday night. Brown said there were several large groups at the corner, which is a popular gathering spot in the neighborhood. Some were reportedly attending a vigil.