Chicago police said officers were nearby when they heard gunfire in a residential area. They later found four teens with gunshot wounds at the scene.Show Caption
A mass shooting in Chicago on Sunday, May 24, left four teenagers injured, authorities said, just days after city officials pleaded for the public's help to curb violence ahead of the summer.Just after 3 a.m. local time, police officers were nearby when they heard gunfire in a residential area of the Little Village neighborhood, on the city’s Southwest Side, according to a Chicago Police Department statement. Officers found four teens with gunshot wounds at the scene.Those injured included an 18-year-old woman, a 16-year-old girl, a 14-year-old boy, and a 16-year-old girl, police said. All four were taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where police described them as listed in good condition.It’s unclear what prompted the shooting.No arrests have been made, and detectives are still investigating the shooting, Chicago police told USA TODAY in an email. Authorities described the suspect as a male who fled on foot prior to police arriving on the scene.Gun violence spikes in the summer, when temperatures rise, like other parts of the United States, according to a 2022 study. Ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, Mayor Brandon Johnson announced his summer safety strategy to prevent violence and invest in community services, particularly in areas historically most affected by violence. In a May 22 news briefing, Johnson also called on adults to speak to young people to help them avoid "unauthorized gatherings" that can be "reckless and dangerous.""Our children are our collective responsibility," Johnson told reporters. "It’s going to take a collective response from everyone to protect our children."Latest police data show drops in most categories of violent crimes in Chicago, including murders and shooting incidents, compared to the last four years. But the current 2026 murder and shooting incident figures were slightly higher than at the same point in 2025.Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at emcuevas1@usatoday.com or on Signal at emcuevas.01.
