Lakeview residents disappointed after three people are shot, three stabbed in separate incidents several hours after Pride festivities
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Violence unfolded on the streets of Lakeview overnight Sunday into Monday – several hours after the city's Pride celebrations.
As CBS 2's Charlie De Mar reported, the trouble did not start until long after the parade had ended and night had fallen – and the concern for leaders in Lakeview is about the aftermath rather than the parade itself.
Two separate violent incidents overnight sent six people to the hospital.
The Pride Parade was over by the late afternoon. But the party continued in certain parts of the East Lakeview area for hours afterward.
On Monday morning, a walk on the east side of Sheffield Avenue approaching Belmont Avenue from the north involved passing a blood stain on the sidewalk.
"After the parade shuts down and the police presence ends, things can get rowdy," said Lakeview resident Diane Doran.
It not only got rowdy, but violent.
"It's disappointing that there are some people that just try to ruin it for everybody." Said one longtime Lakeview resident, who did not want her name used.
Around 11:30 p.m. Sunday, police said a 24-year-old woman pulled a knife and stabbed three people after a quarrel at Belmont and Sheffield avenues.
A 28-year-old woman was stabbed in the chest, arm, and back; a 20-year-old man was stabbed in the back; and a 35-year-old woman was stabbed in the buttocks. All three were taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, while the suspect was taken into custody.
A couple hours later at the busy intersection of Halsted and Clark streets and Barry Avenue, three people were shot in front of the Advocate Medical Group Outpatient Center.
A 30-year-old man was shot once in the knee, a 37-year-old man was shot once in the leg, and a 46-year-old woman was shot once in the abdomen. All were also taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic, and the woman was reported in critical condition.
Around 8:30 p.m., hours before these incidents, a Chicago Police officer was punched in the 3300 block of North Clark Street. Police said around 8:30 p.m., the sergeant attempted to arrest a male offender when a 21-year-old woman punched the sergeant in the head.
"I think that is just really horrible that that had to happen on a day that was supposed to be about love and celebration," said Lakeview resident Jamie Park.
Last week, Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) acknowledged the hours after the parade are problematic — what he calls a mixture of all-day partying and visitors from different neighborhoods. The concern prompted the alderman to ask for more police resources.
"What I see differently this year is an acknowledgment that we have a post-parade problem," Tunney said Thursday.
"I don't know that police presence is the answer, but certainly like knowing these big events do spill over, I think they could have done a little bit more to like protect the public," Doran said.
Police late Monday still looking for the shooter in the incident at Halsted, Clark, and Barry.
De Mar spoke with Ald. Tunney again on Monday, and Tunney said he felt that the neighborhood was adequately staffed with police not just during the parade, but well into the evening - despite the violence.
Meanwhile, calls to move the Pride Parade out of East Lakeview and Uptown and move it downtown are not new. But they were renewed following the incidents overnight.
"I can kind of see the point of having it downtown. If it was on Michigan Avenue, you'd have a huge amount of space," said the woman who did not want her name used. "When the parade was smaller, people would just go home afterwards, but now, there's just too many people."
Doran was less convinced that moving the parade downtown would be a solution.
"Could we move it downtown like to be slightly less affective of the neighborhood? Maybe, but that kind of does take away from the purpose - which is to celebrate our LGBTQIA+ brothers and sisters," she said. "I do think that Lakeview can host such a big event. I think that we can definitely improve upon it."
Ald. Tunney said moving the Pride Parade downtown would not solve the problem, since afterparties going hours later into the night would likely still take place in the Northaslted neighborhood.
