CHICAGO (WLS) — There was no rest in peace on Chicago’s South Side when gunfire erupted this weekend during a funeral.
The latest attack has police now working to sort out a motive and possible suspects.
Three men were wounded and are recovering after shots were fired outside Christian Tabernacle Church near 47th and Prairie, according to Chicago police.
This incident is the latest in a string of city and suburban funeral attacks that beg the question: Is nothing sacred?
CPD patrol teams and detectives flooded the Bronzeville area at high noon Saturday. A church funeral for a 15-year-old gunshot victim was underway when, according to police, a car pulled up and shots were fired near the crowd of mourners.
The drive-by left witnesses too shaken to be identified, but they told a story of grief in progress suddenly giving way to a crime in progress.
“Some people just came by shootin’ up the funeral home. We don’t know exactly what happened. We was literally attending the funeral-over 20 shots done been fired,” one female witness said.
“We started hearing some commotion in the back of the church”, said another man. “Then, we started hearing the gunshots. People started panicking and moving to the front of the church and getting on the ground.”
And, as the I-Team has reported, it’s been happening for years.
In 2017, just days before Thanksgiving, an Evergreen Park graveside ceremony was interrupted by gunfire from an angry mourner.
A few days later there was Hillside highway mayhem during a funeral procession that ended with police ramming a suspect car and a foot chase. Four armed mourners were arrested.
And just a couple months ago in Roseland, three people paying their respects were wounded by drive-by shooters.
This past weekend’s attack has mourners wondering if anything is scared.
“This is senseless. This is a kid’s funeral and then you are shootin’ up the church? I mean, this is ridiculous,” one person said.
As resting in peace remains difficult for some, a much-heralded county task force aimed at addressing funeral violence was shelved in 2018 even though law enforcement, funeral homes, cemeteries and the faith community were all on board.
CPD and Cook County still send funeral intelligence reports to suburban police, trying to head off funeral attacks.
But as the weekend showed, that doesn’t always work.
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