Three people were killed and seven others injured in shootings Friday evening into Saturday morning in Chicago, continuing what has already been a bloody spring in the Second City.
David Loggins, 52, of the 6500 block of South Champlain Avenue, was shot in the neck at 1:23 a.m. Saturday in the 6400 block of South Langley Avenue, police say, and was pronounced dead at the scene, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
The Chicago Tribune reports that a 31-year-old man was found with a gunshot wound to the torso in his cab near the intersection of Racine Avenue and 69th Street. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center and pronounced dead there at about 3:45 a.m. His identity has not yet been released.
Elsewhere in the city, a 21-year-old woman was shot multiple times in the 3900 block of West 19th Street in the city's Lawndale neighborhood around 4:30 a.m., according to the Sun-Times. She was pronounced at Mount Sinai Hospital and her identity has also not yet been made public.
The Tribune has a full list of the nonfatal shootings reported late Friday into early Saturday, including a 16-year-old boy shot in the cheek and the side of his chest around 8:55 p.m. in the 7700 block of South Carpenter Street.
The city of Chicago has been home to a soaring number of homicides thus far this year when compared to the same period the previous year. The city's homicide rate is up 60 percent in the first three months of 2012 compared to the last year. Last month, 10 people were killed and at least 40 others were wounded in shootings over the course of just one weekend.
Nonfatal shootings are also up sharply when compared to the first three months of 2011. Thursday evening, a 7-year-old girl hit by a stray bullet fired during an altercation between two men was among eight individuals wounded in Chicago shootings.
Responding to criticism over recent gun violence in Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has pushed for a state law that would allow the city to more aggressively pursue street gangs. He has also defended the steps the city has taken to fight crime on his watch, including conducting gang audits and shifting some 600 police officers from desk duty to the streets.
The mayor has also vowed to crack down on what he calls problem liquor and convenience stores, which he says have served as a magnet for crime and can "become a cancer on the community," the Sun-Times reports.
As of late Saturday morning, no one is in custody as police continue to investigate the above shootings.
WATCH the mayor comment on Chicago gun violence last month, which included the shooting death of 6-year-old Aliyah Shell:
View more videos at: http://nbcchicago.com.