Law enforcement officials say that Chicago, which has some of the strictest gun control laws in the United States, experienced a blood-soaked weekend as dozens of people were shot, many fatally.
ABC 7 Chicago reports that from Friday at 5 p.m. through Sunday night at least 63 people were shot, with at least 10 dying from their injuries.
One paramedic reportedly described the streets of Chicago as being “a war zone.”
“We know that some of these incidents were targeted and are related to gang conflicts in those areas,” Chicago Police Chief of Patrol Fred Waller said on Sunday. “They take advantage of that opportunity and they shoot into a crowd, no matter who they hit.”
ABC 7 Chicago adds that “during one two-and-a-half hour-hour period, 25 people were shot in five multi-injury shootings.”
The violence came as tens of thousands of people attended Lollapalooza in downtown Chicago over the weekend.
The Chicago Tribune notes that many of the shootings happened in Chicago’s South Side and West Side.
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