WASHINGTON PARK (WBBM Newsradio) -- Chicago police say they're going over security camera and other video as they look for whoever opened fire on a reunion at a South side park, leaving one man dead.
"Whoever did this, they're a bunch of idiots," said South side Ald. Jeanette Taylor after the Tuesday morning briefing updating the investigation into the August 29 shooting near 54th and Cottage Grove. Officers were breaking up a party reuniting former residents of the Robert Taylor Homes housing projects when someone opened fire, killing Rontonio Guterz, 35, and wounding 14 other people in the city's largest such incident this year.
"You don't fire into a crowd," said Ald. Taylor (20th Ward). "You don't know who's in that crowd."
"We do believe this was somewhat targeted," interim police Superintendent Fred Waller told reporters, noting that detectives were back in the area on Tuesday talking to neighbors and seeking other evidence.
"There's some video tracking vehicles," the acting superintendent said. "In a chaotic scene like that, you have to sort through so much; which vehicles contain actual offenders, those type of things. We also saw that there was some return fire."
The shooting happened after the park's posted closing time of 11:00pm, and Ald. Taylor said it could have been prevented: "At 10:00, that park should have been closed, (local police) should have been there, the Park District should have been there to escort people off."
Mayor Brandon Johnson, who has focused on addressing what he calls the root causes of violence, said this latest shooting will change nothing about his administration's approach.
"We will not allow this setback that we have endured this past weekend to halt the progress that we have made in past years," said the mayor. "We will continue building a Chicago where every family can live and thrive without the threat of violence."
The city's opening an Emergency Assistance Center on Thursday, September 3 from 4-7pm at the Washington Park Fieldhouse, 5531 S Martin Luther King Dr., to provide resources and help for victims and family members of the Washington Park shooting or any incident of violence.
"Somewhat targeted" shooting kills 1, wounds 14
"Somewhat targeted" shooting kills 1, wounds 14
