As October draws to a close, Chicago experienced its deadliest and most devastating weekend so far this year, leaving 17 people fatally shot and more than 40 wounded, between Friday afternoon and early Monday, the Chicago Tribune reports.
According to the report, up until this weekend, Father's Day weekend had been the most violent in the city, with 59 people shot and 13 dead. The same number of people were shot this Halloween weekend, but those shootings resulted in more fatalities. Of the 17 people killed this weekend, seven were younger than 20.
The youngest victim was 14-year-old Demarco Webster Jr., who was described by his principal as one of her best students. The Tribune reports that Demarco planned to run for student council and wanted to try out for basketball and was also being recruited for an NAACP leadership program.
The 14-year-old was killed Saturday while helping his father move out of a building.
More than 24 hours later, 17-year-old twins Edward and Edwin Bryant were killed in what authorities believe to be a drive-by shooting in the Old Town neighborhood.
As the Tribune notes, there have been at least 638 homicides in Chicago so far this year, 217 more than this time last year, data showed. At least 3,662 people have been shot in total in the city this year, 1,106 more than during the same period last year.
Read more at the Los Angeles Times.