CHICAGO — As a group of mourners Sunday night stood around a memorial to a man shot and killed just hours earlier, an even bloodier wave of violence broke out near the same spot — a mass shooting that targeted the crowd.
Two masked men with rifles emerged from an alley near the memorial shrine and opened fire, killing a woman and a man and wounding eight other mourners, police said.
The killers then fled to a getaway car and drove off, leaving behind a scene of carnage that rocked Brighton Park and Chicago. It was the single bloodiest shooting since Sept. 19, 2013, when 13 people were wounded in a shooting at Cornell Square Park.
The shooting came about 12 hours after a 26-year-old man was shot and killed nearby, and Police Deputy Supt. Kevin Navarro said the victims were at a memorial to that man when the second shooting happened.
"We had another brazen act of gang violence on the streets of Chicago," Navarro said at a Sunday news conference.
The group of people were in the 4600 block of South Rockwell street, standing at the shrine to the man killed earlier in the day — identified as Daniel Cardova, officials said. At 5:17 p.m., the two masked men with rifles came out of a nearby alley and fired shots at the group.
The shooting was gang-related, police said.
Neighbors said they saw the men around the building on the southeast corner of 46th Place and Rockwell Avenue flashing gang signs to passing cars before the shooting.
Police think shooters got into a light-colored van or SUV and drove away. No one was in custody.
Police said they have a "fairly good" idea of the conflict that led to the shootings and they were going to "flood" the area with police to prevent more problems.
"For the second time in a week, we're here tonight talking about assault weapons being used in our community," Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th) said, referring to the shooting of two Chicago Police officers last week. "In broad daylight. On a Sunday. On a day when everyone should have been at home, doing gardening, enjoying each other's company, a multitude of shots rang out.
"The wake-up call has been here. It's time for us to act."
Neighbors said there hadn't been a shooting on the block in 20 years and there are rarely issues with loitering or other complaints on the residential block.
"Everyone's started exchanging numbers," said Yunuen Rodriguez, who said she looked out her window yesterday after hearing gunshots and saw a dead body in the street. "How else can I check in on my neighbors if I can't come out of my house?"
She said there haven't been issues with gun violence on the block in the past, but is now worried these two shooting incidents will lead to more.
"I don't think it will be an isolated incident because summer is coming," Rodriguez said.
The alderman called on community members to identify gang members and drug dealers.
"We must stand together to put an end to this nonsense in our neighborhoods," Lopez said. "We must, and we will, put an end to this in our community and in every community across Chicago."
The victims:
• A 25-year-old man was pronounced dead
• A 29-year-old woman was pronounced dead
• A 25-year-old man was hit in his right hip and right elbow. He was in good condition at Mount Sinai Hospital.
• A 26-year-old man was hit in his right leg. He was in good condition at Stroger Hospital.
• A 23-year-old man was hit multiple times in his right leg. He was in good condition at Stoger Hospital.
• A 26-year-old man was hit in his right leg. He was in good condition at Stroger Hospital.
• A 26-year-old man was hit in his ankles. He was in good condition at Stroger Hospital.
• A 19-year-old woman was hit in her right leg. She was in good condition at Mount Sinai Hospital.
• A 25-year-old woman was hit in her right arm. She was in good condition at Stroger Hospital.
• A 23-year-old man had fragments in his right leg. He was in good condition at Stroger Hospital.
