Police in Chicago say 14 people were injured after gunfire erupted late Tuesday outside a funeral home on the city’s South Side, where mourners had gathered for a funeral.
Chicago Police First Deputy Superintendent Eric Carter told reporters a black sports utility vehicle came speeding down the street and fired on the mourners. He said several of those targeted by the shooters returned fire.
The SUV later crashed, and the occupants fled in several directions. Carter said all the victims were adults. Carter said at least 60 shell casings were found at the scene.
Carter said “a person of interest” was in custody and being questioned, but no arrests had been made. He said the identities of the shooters among the mourners were not known.
A police spokesman said the victims were taken by the Chicago Fire Department to nearby hospitals in serious condition. Police have not indicated a motive for the shooting.
From her Twitter account late Tuesday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot called the gunmen “cowardly” and urged people with information about the shooting to come forward. She said those responsible would he held accountable. She said, “We cannot give shelter to killers. People know who are responsible.”
The incident comes as U.S. President Donald Trump has said he plans to deploy federal agents to the streets of Chicago to quell violence there. According to the Associated Press, Mayor Lightfoot at first resisted the idea, but changed her tone after she and members of her administration spoke with federal officials about the plan.
Lightfoot, however, has said that while the city welcomes an actual partnership, “we do not welcome dictatorship.” The mayor has also been quoted as saying, “We do not welcome authoritarianism, and we do not welcome unconstitutional arrest and detainment of our residents. That is something I will not tolerate.”
