The day after a mass shooting left seven teens wounded near St. Sabina’s church, parishioners walked door to door distributing flyers announcing the church’s $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
At a special Mass held Sunday morning at the church, the Rev. Michael Pfleger addressed the congregation with a hopeful tone.
“It would be out of order, and I believe against the call of the disciples, to just have a normal service and go home,” Pfleger said. “The fact there were only seven shot is a miracle, and the fact that nobody died is, too.
“I’m not doing a funeral this week,” he said.
About 1:55 a.m. Saturday, CPD patrol officers were attempting to disperse a crowd in the 1200 block of West 78th Street when someone in a passing vehicle shot into the crowd, police said. Three 17-year-olds, three 18-year-olds and a 19-year-old were all hospitalized with gunshot wounds.
No one is in custody, according to CPD.
Pfleger told the congregation he heard the gunfire and went outside to witness the aftermath. He later learned the party had been a prom after party that was promoted on social media, with teens coming from across the city and suburbs.
According to the Sun- Times, Pfleger said the answer isn’t more policing, snap curfews or more jobs programs, as none of those would have kept the gathering of teens off the street that night.
He instead blamed parents for allowing their children out that late at night, and he took personal offense that the shooting occurred so close to his church, which has been heavily engaged in activism against gun violence — including weekly peace walks during the summer that happen when there’s “tension” in the community.
“To me, this is real personal,” Pfleger said Saturday. “These are sacred grounds.”
For Justin Harris, a 21-year-old member of the church, the attack was personal, too. His mom is a 911 dispatch operator who took the initial call of the mass shooting that occurred in the neighborhood where they have lived his entire life.
Beyond that, he’s just two years older than the eldest victim — which made it even more “devastating and heartbreaking.”
“It hits so close to home, especially knowing it was young people,” Harris said. “I believe it’s just influence and pressure. … Don’t put your life in jeopardy, don’t put your future in jeopardy. It’s OK to be different, and young people have to take that to heart when we’re in a world of social media trying to impress our peers.”
Congregant Torey Ray said more resources were needed for kids, especially in the summer when school is out.
“When it’s after school and they’re just hanging out here in the streets, they need jobs and things to keep them preoccupied,” Ray, 32, said. And “parents, parent your kids. Get these kids in the house; when it’s too late, there’s nothing safe out here.”
The shooting comes less than a week after Chicago saw its least violent Memorial Day weekend in at least 16 years, a tough juxtaposition for those civic and police leaders who hailed the milestone.
Harris said he wasn’t losing hope in his community — which he credited for speaking up in the face of violence — or the city.
“We’re definitely making progress, but the devil is just trying to derail us from the progress,” Harris said. “Our community is definitely making progress, and we can’t let this one incident push us back to where we were years ago.”
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