If you keep up with the news you might have noticed an uptick in gunfire over the weekend — or, to be specific, an unusual amount of headline-grabbing violence breaking out in a relatively small geographic area (the near East Side) over a short time span (Saturday-Sunday).
Of course, we’ll concede the unfortunate given that terrible things happen all the time in the city without finding a way into newsprint. But every so often — usually in the summer — a single weekend sees an inordinate amount of gratuitous violence, a pile-up of police blotter items that by the number of victims involved or the brazen style of violence perpetuated jumps things a few notches in terms of notoriety. Shit gets real, in other words. And the weekend we just closed the door on was one of those weekends.
The first incident happened as the Saturday night festivities were unwinding. At around 1:30 a.m., Sunday morning, police were called to the China House on East 53rd and St. Clair. According to 19ActionNews, 21-year-old Keith Crump, a security guard at the restaurant, got into it with six males all decked out in white t-shirts — reportedly members of the 105 Boys and Hough Boys street gangs. Whatever the issue was, Crump pepper-sprayed the males, who in turn promised to come back. Within two minutes they did so, opening fire on the restaurant. Crump also returned fire. Three people were hit.
This article appears in Jun 20-26, 2012.