Chicago police say they have launched a manhunt after a drive-by shooting injured seven teenagers in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The shooting happened in Chicago's South Side neighborhood and across the street from Chicago’s St. Sabina Church and school.
“An unknown vehicle drove by, and began firing shots at the crowd striking several victims” as officers were “trying to disperse a large gathering of people” in the city’s southeastern 6th District, the Chicago Police Department said in a statement.
Three of the victims were 17 years old, three were 18 and one 19. All suffered injuries to their legs, two were struck in the arm, one in the back and one in the buttocks, the statement said, adding that they were taken to local hospitals.
All were listed as being in “fair condition,” apart from one who was hit in the leg and the chest, whose condition was listed as “serious.”
“The vehicle immediately fled the scene,” the statement said. “No officers were injured.”
As of Saturday morning, no one was in custody in connection with the shooting, according to a police spokesperson.
St. Sabina Church said in a statement on Facebook that it was not “defeated” by the shooting and will continue to “celebrate our young people and walk with them through every passage of life.”
“Yet, we are sobered by the reality that there are forces — violent, destructive, and demonic — working to interrupt their promise,” the church wrote. “Let us say with one voice: Enough is enough."
The mayor’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
In a post on X Wednesday, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson celebrated a recent dip in crime in the city.
“We are grateful for this progress, but we know there is more to do,” he wrote.
In 2024, there were 2,758 shooting victims in Chicago, according to the city’s police department, a 4.1% decrease from the previous year.
The frustrated priest of St. Sabina, Fr. Michael Pfleger, told NBC Chicago that parents can play a key role in reducing violence like the kind that erupted Saturday.
“This is not something police can stop, snap curfews can stop, programming can stop, jobs can stop. This has got to be parents knowing where the hell your kids are at. Young people making the right choices, not putting everything you’re doing on social media,” he told the station.
He said he was offering a $10,000 reward for information leading the arrest of those responsible for the shooting.
