Chicago's Tragic July Fourth: 55 Shot, 6 Dead in Violent Weekend

Chicago endured a tragic and violent Fourth of July weekend, with over 50 individuals shot and six lives lost in a series of brutal incidents across the city. This wave of violence, spanning from midnight on Thursday, July 3, to Sunday night, underscores the persistent challenge of gun violence in one of America’s most troubled urban centers.

Among the most harrowing events was a drive-by shooting in Little Village on Saturday morning, where four people were injured—three critically—as suspects in an SUV opened fire on victims seated in their vehicle. Hours later, the city mourned the loss of two men in separate shootings. A 46-year-old was killed in Lake View while sitting in his car, with a suspect now in custody, while a 30-year-old was found dead on the West Side with a gunshot wound to the head, leaving detectives searching for answers.

Friday night brought a flurry of violence on the South Side, with multiple shootings erupting within minutes. A 36-year-old man, Marco A. Velasquez-Sierra, was found deceased with a fatal head wound, and no arrests have been made. Simultaneously, a crowd was targeted by two unidentified suspects, leaving seven injured, two in critical condition. In another heartbreaking incident, a 16-year-old girl, Meeyah Smith, succumbed to a gunshot wound to the throat, while a 35-year-old man was also injured in the same attack.

The violence began early Thursday with the fatal shooting of a 29-year-old woman during a robbery attempt on the South Side, alongside another woman who was injured. That same morning, a 21-year-old man fell victim to a drive-by shooting, and two separate mass shootings left seven more people wounded. According to city data, Chicago has already recorded 205 homicides this year, with 170 involving firearms—a grim reminder of the scale of this crisis.

As the city grapples with these recurring tragedies, the silence from the Chicago Police Department and Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office speaks volumes. The Fourth of July, a time meant for celebration, has once again been marred by bloodshed, leaving communities in mourning and searching for solutions.