Chicago sees 12 shootings in 4 hours as gang warfare rages on

This July 2012 file photo shows Chicago police at the scene of a gang-related shooting. / CBS

(CBS News) - A dozen people were shot and wounded Tuesday night in Chicago, a bloody start to the July 4 holiday in a city which has seen a dramatic rise in gang-related violence this year.

CBS 2 in Chicago, in conjunction with the Sun-Times Media Wire, reports that three people remained hospitalized in critical condition, and a 15-year-old boy shot while playing basketball was in serious condition.

At least five separate shootings were reported between 5 p.m. and just before 9 p.m., according to CBS 2.

CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds reported earlier this week that, as of Monday, Chicago police had already reported 240 homicides in 2012.

Even tiniest Chicagoans caught in gang crossfire
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Gang wars at the root of Chicago's high murder rate

The violence, which is usually linked to gang warfare, rose to national headlines with the death last week of 7-year-old Heaven Sutton - shot as she stood too close to the intended target of an alleged gang member.

"She died in my arms. That's what makes it so bad," the little girl's mother, Ashake Banks, told Reynolds. "She took her last breath in my arms."

"Bullets don't have no names on them, and they're just shooting at anybody," Heaven's uncle Tavares Harrington told CBS News.

[nygurl1]

I never cease to be amazed, at the nonsense and lies the reps manage to invent, to aggravate the people they are presumably trying to coax to vote for them!

The vitriol is splashed willy-nilly, all over the place, and they don't care if it is a truth or a lie!

Way to go num-nums!

[CHL_9mm]

I'm glad I live in a state where I can pack my Glock 24/7. Please keep those scum bags in Chicago. I don't want to go through all the the legal hassles after being forced to defend myself against some ding-dong who couldn't blow his nose if his brains were dynamite.

[nygurl1]

Sorry you need a gun to be a man.

[vista8635]

Denial is not a river in Egypt. It's a war y'all - and not just in Chicago... :-(

[nygurl1]

Amen!

[ugacrew]

GRAND-SLAM!! DEAD ON POINT!

by SOLARRAYS247 July 4, 2012 10:47 AM EDT

Stop your whining, and do something about it!

Stop allowing yourself to be so easily duped and used!

When someone like Rush Limbaugh can reach millions at a time, cherry picking examples and casting every issue as a "with us or against us" choice!

When a prominent Republican congressman declares that his first priority is getting rid of President Obama rather than addressing any one of a myriad of pressing social or economic issues, demonizing him in order to have more opportunities to avoid compromise!

Grow some balls, and join "We The People" with our demand for hack-free electronic voting machines with verifiable paper trails!

Help us in our fight to repeal Citizens United that claims that corporations are people! Help us to amend our constitution and protect our rights...because money must be taken out of politics and should not buy votes!

Then, and only then, will we be on our way to becoming, once again, the United States of America that we recall, and for whom our ancestors fought and died so that we can celebrate, as a free peoples, the 236th birthday of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on this day, July 4th.

Stop acting like a self-described patriot, and finally become one!
...by GTR5 July 4, 2012 11:52 AM EDT

[formerlyluvnut]

I guess the last three decades of "don't spank, slap or disclipline your kids" ain't working very well!

[lg144]

More destruction of our society as republicans gleefully starve the country of jobs, options and resources. Clearly republicans the party of nero only cares about abortion and hurting President Obama. So why would a sane struggling Americans vote for them?

[Aggie95]

LOL ...these are obama supporters who are whacking each other with a mad happy abondon and they have done so for decades ....from 1976 to 2005 AA have committed 59.3 % of all felony murders committed in the U.S ....* SHRUG * threw good times and bad ....river up ....river down ....good weather ....bad weather ....jobs ....no jobs it has remained a constant

[nygurl1]

Aggie - what the helo are you talking about???

[smittyc]

I don't think anyone is surprised by this news. The demographics of Chicago is well known and the statistics are readily available. Overall the facts are on display for all of us to review, what is there to argue about?

[nygurl1]

How about your snide reference to demographics!
And why do you think it's only Chicago?
How about you check some facts yourself?

[UForgotPoland]

They need to make laws that are harsher for gang members, like arrest on sight for suspected gang members and another automatic 20 years to your sentence if you are a confirmed gang member.

[nygurl1]

That is silly. How can you arrest on sight? Why?
1 - If they haven't done anything you can't arrest them!
2 - Their colors give them away? But normals use color too. How do you tell them apart? See number 1.
3 - Adding to their sentence for no cause, and being a member IS no cause, will not happen. See number 1.

[ugacrew]

SolarRays,

Now for the toast, I lift my champagne. Well said, except for one mispelling...Sarah PAYlin.

[IAMCS]

It is up to the people WHO LIVE there to be proACTIVE and do something to RECLAIM their neighborhoods. If the people in a neighbordhood are going to raise, support, and harbor these type of criminals, then they will reap what they sow.

[nygurl1]

What are you suggesting? All out war in the streets?

Will you help "them"? Who is "them"?

I wish I could cuss on here. You'd deserve it!