Fifteen people were injured, one person was being questioned and multiple suspects were being sought after gunfire erupted outside a funeral home on Chicago's South Side where at least one squad car was present, police said.
First Deputy Superintendent Eric Carter said mourners outside a funeral home in the Gresham neighbourhood were fired upon Tuesday from a passing vehicle. Carter said several targets of the shooting returned fire. The vehicle later crashed and the occupants fled in several directions. Carter said all the victims were adults.
A person of interest was being questioned Tuesday night but no arrests had been made, said police spokesman Hector Alfaro.
The shooting comes as the Department of Homeland Security is planning to deploy dozens of federal agents to Chicago to deal with an uptick in violent crime in the city.
Most victims were taken by the Chicago Fire Department to nearby hospitals in serious condition, said spokesman Larry Langford. They include 10 women from the ages of 21 and 65, including one of whom was shot in the chest, police said. The 65-year-old was treated at the scene.
Other victims include a man who was shot in the chest, arm and forearm, and two men, 32 and 22, who were shot in a hand, police said.
Police said the shooting happened at or near the site of a funeral or post-funeral event for a man fatally shot last week in the Englewood neighbourhood.
Arnita Geder and Kenneth Hughes said they heard gunshots while in their home watching television, adding that they came outside to find bodies that were shot up and "laying everywhere."
"We thought it was a war out here," Geder told the Chicago Sun-Times. "It's ridiculous all the shooting that's going on out here, it really has to stop." Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday night in a series of Twitter posts that "far too many people" have attended funerals and attempted to begin the process of healing entire communities following another "senseless tragedy."
