14 killed, dozens hurt in Chicago shootings

In this Sunday, July 6, 2014 photo, a woman talks to a Chicago police officer near the scene where a man was shot in the leg on the city's South Side. The Fourth of July weekend was a bloody one in Chicago, where at least nine people were shot to death and at least 60 others were wounded. (AP Photo/Sun-Times Media, Alex Wroblewski) MANDATORY CREDIT, MAGS OUT, NO SALES

Extra police officers on Chicago’s streets were not enough to quell a long weekend of violence that ended with 14 people shot to death and dozens more injured.

During Monday’s news conference, just hours after two more people were shot to death earlier in the day, Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said his department’s best efforts could not prevent the bloodshed that spiked dramatically on Sunday.

Chicago’s total of 53 shooting incidents for the holiday weekend easily eclipsed Detroit and New York combined, which had a total of 46 shooting incidents, 10 of which were fatal.

“Going into the holiday weekend we had a plan, including putting hundreds more officers on the streets and what were the results?” Mr. McCarthy asked.

“The results were a lot of shootings, a lot of murders, unfortunately.”

The shootings over the Fourth of July holiday weekend included eight incidents that involved police, according to Mr. McCarthy. In five of those instances, officers shot at suspects.

Two people, both 16, were killed in those shootouts.

Mr. McCarthy said that based on preliminary investigations, all of the officer-involved shootings appear to have been justified, including one in which officers fired after a suspect tried to run them over with his car.

Even with the weekend shootings, Chicago police are on pace with last year for officer-involved shootings, with 33 so far in 2014, compared with 35 at the same time last year, according to Mr. McCarthy.