4 Dead, 28 Wounded in Weekend Shootings

Four people are dead and at least 28 others were wounded in weekend shootings across the city since Friday afternoon, including a 7-year-old girl shot while playing in front of her South Side home.
Among the dead are:

-- Jeffrey Triplett, 17, was shot about 2:15 a.m. on Saturday in the lower back and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, authorities said. Another 17-year-old boy was wounded in the shooting and was listed in critical condition at Mount Sinai Hospital.

-- Avelino Sanchez, 68, and Lori Inman, 49, who were found dead with shotgun wounds to their chests at their apartment in the 6500 block of South Kenwood Avenue Friday night, authorities said.

Police were questioning a man who also lived in the apartment. The man was taken into custody following a standoff with police that resulted in a SWAT team and the Police Department’s Hostage Barricade Terrorists Unit being called in, police said.

-- Jaleel Beasley, 19, was shot in the head and stomach in the 2400 block of West Roosevelt Road, police said. He was pronounced dead at 2:34 a.m. at Mount Sinai Hospital, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.

Since 4 p.m. Friday, 28 other people have been wounded in shootings throughout the city, police said. Seven separate shootings claimed 13 of those victims during one particularly bloody 90-minute stretch early Sunday that began about 12:45 a.m.

Most people shot were taken to area hospitals in good or “stable” condition, though six people remain in critical condition early Sunday -- including a 23-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman shot in the 6800 block of South Claremont Avenue at 1:43 a.m. Sunday during a possibly gang-related argument.

The youngest shooting victim was a 7-year-old girl, who was listed in good condition Saturday night, police said. She was shot about 4:20 p.m. Saturday, when a white four-door car pulled up to a group of boys near the intersection of West 69th Street and South Artesian Avenue and someone inside opened fire.

Police said none of the boys were injured, but a bullet hit the 7-year-old as she played in front of her home on South Artesian Avenue, police said. Paramedics initially took the girl in good condition to Holy Cross Hospital, police said, adding that she may have been transported to the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital.

Little more than an hour later, two men were shot just two blocks away in another drive-by shooting, this time in the 2500 block of West 71st Street. Police said this shooting was gang-related and they were looking into the possibility that it may be connected to the nearby shooting of the 7-year-old girl.