As she headed out the door Sunday morning, Adrianne Wilberton put on a brave face. It was time to tell one of her sons the news, and she didn’t want him hearing it from anyone else.But her composure unraveled as she walked toward the car, a barrage of neighbors hugging her on the way out of her apartment. By the time she reached the front lawn, the mother of six was in tears.
“Our son is dead! Oh Jesus!” the 57-year-old screamed, referring to her other son, Cortez, who was killed earlier that morning on Chicago’s West Side. “Oh my God! Oh my God! We were just talking.”
At least 28 people were shot — six of them fatally — Saturday afternoon into Father's Day Sunday, stretching from 94th Street and Loomis Avenue on the South Side up to about North Avenue and North Pulaski Road on the Northwest Side, according to authorities. The youngest person who was killed during one of the bloodiest weekends in Chicago this year was 16.
Shootings from Friday afternoon into Saturday left another 13 people shot, 1 fatally. The combined tally resulted in 46 people shot, and seven killed this weekend. Last year at about the same time, there were 53 people shot, nine fatally in one weekend.
The rash of violent crime came as Chicago has seen a large dip in overall homicide and shooting numbers so far this year.
When asked whether this weekend's shooting numbers cast doubt on the department's crime-fighting strategies, Chicago police spokesman Adam Collins insisted they are working, noting the city has so far in 2013 posted its lowest homicide totals in years.
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