Strap in boys and girls:
- Nineteen people were shot in attacks across the South and West sides between about 5:20 p.m. Thursday and 1:30 a.m. Friday - including 13 people during a single 30-minute period - according to the Chicago Police Department.
The shootings peaked between about 9:15 and 9:45 p.m. Thursday when 13 people were shot, including eight in a single incident at 79th Street and Essex Avenue about 9:30 p.m.
Police are still trying to sort out that shooting, the second of three incidents that left multiple people wounded since 8 p.m.
As of 4 a.m., none of the 19 people shot had died.
The first reported shooting Thursday afternoon left four people wounded in the Little Village neighborhood about 5:20 p.m.
Ninety-plus-degrees today and tomorrow.
Some people might wish we had some citywide units to throw at the hot spots - but trial and error has shown that they don't work. At least, that's what we heard. And you know that you MUST believe our leaders because they "passed" actual tests and have intimate knowledge of the ebb and flow of the streets they never served on. Don't be relying on your lying eyes, that stack of bodies on the corner and the endless wail of ambulance sirens.