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At least eight people died and at least 46 others were wounded in shootings over a hot, bloody weekend in Chicago.
Joseph Briggs, 16, was the youngest victim of gun violence over the weekend. He was shot in the head while standing with a group of people on the porch in front of his family's home Saturday evening and died early Sunday.
His grandmother Josephine Briggs told the Chicago Sun-Times that she believed her grandson was not the intended target of the shooting which police say may have been gang-related.
"He [had] a nice personality. He always [was] smiling. Every time you see him he got a big smile on his face. He was just a happy grandson," she told the paper of the Gage Park High School junior.
Rashaun Stephany, 22, and Mario Jackson, 26, were killed in a single shooting on the 5100 block of South May Street just before 5 p.m. Friday, the Chicago Tribune reports. Three other males were injured in the same incident.
Alease Davies, Stephany's mother, told ABC Chicago her son had been "on his way to the studio to make his music. That is all he ever did. They snatched him away. It hurts so bad."
From late Saturday into early Sunday alone, 20 people were wounded by gunfire in Chicago.
The weekend's latest shooting occurred late Sunday evening, when someone opened fire at a party near Halsted and 50th in the city's Back of the Yards neighborhood, according to ABC. Two males were killed and three others were wounded in the incident.
The victims of gun violence were mostly male and ranged in age from 17 to 50. No arrests have been made in the shootings as of Monday morning.
Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy appeared on several local news stations Monday morning and addressed the bloody weekend. McCarthy pointed out that overall crime in the city is down 10 percent.
"None of it is OK," McCarthy told NBC Chicago. "Crime reduction is a process. We implement the strategies and the question is are we doing better than we were last year. And the answer is yes."
Homicides in Chicago so far this year were up nearly 50 percent when compared to last year, as of late last month.