Four Fatally Shot in Overnight Violence Across Chicago, Police Report

Four people were shot and killed in separate incidents across Chicago from late Friday night into early Saturday morning, according to the Chicago Police Department. The shootings occurred in four different neighborhoods, underscoring a continuing wave of summer gun violence in the city. The youngest victim, 16-year-old Meeyah Smith, was pronounced dead at Jackson Park Community Hospital after being shot in the throat around 11 p.m. Friday in the 1200 block of East 83rd Street in Avalon Park. A 35-year-old man who was with her was wounded in the thigh and is in good condition, police said. Roughly an hour later, officers found a 36-year-old man, identified by the Cook County medical examiner’s office as Marco A. Velasquez, shot in the head in the 6400 block of South Winchester Avenue in Englewood; he died at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Shortly after 2 a.m. Saturday, a 52-year-old man was discovered with a gunshot wound to the back in the 3400 block of West 62nd Place in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood and was pronounced dead at the scene. The fourth fatality was reported just before 5 a.m. in the 1000 block of North Lavergne Avenue in Austin, where a 30-year-old man was found unresponsive with a head wound. Police said the assailants in each case approached on foot and fled before officers arrived. No arrests have been made, and detectives in multiple police areas are investigating the shootings.