Waukegan police are investigating separate shooting incidents, including one where suspected gang members fired on officers and a second where two people were shot in a group gathered for a prearranged fight between two females.
The suspected gang shooting happened Friday night at around 8:30 p.m. when police said they attempted to pull over a Kia Soul occupied by possible gang members.
The vehicle fled, but detectives spotted it a short while later in an alley in the 1000 block of Wadsworth in North Chicago. As the detectives pulled into the alley, the suspects, who were out of the vehicle, fired five shots at them.
Police recovered five shell casings in the alley, along with the gun that fired the rounds, police said.
The suspects fled on foot. Police said they arrested one, a Waukegan juvenile, who was wanted in a previous weapons case, He has been charged with firing at a police officer, a Class X felony, along with other weapons charges. The youth is the suspected shooter, police said.
In the second incident, two people were shot in a crowd that had gathered Sunday at around 9 p.m. in a parking lot in the 1800 block of 14th Street for a prearranged fight between two women over a relationship with another person.
Before the fight took place, shots were fired, hitting a female juvenile in the hip and a 22-year-old woman in the thigh. Both were transported to hospitals for treatment.
Police said they recovered two different types of shell casings, indicating there were two shooters. No one was in custody Tuesday.
The shootings come in the wake of one earlier this month in which Niolis Collazo, a young coach and counselor in the Waukegan school system, was fatally shot as she drove home from a dinner with friends.
At last week’s City Council meeting, Mayor Ann Taylor expressed her anger about Waukegan’s ongoing gun violence, and said the city was increasing the number of police officers in response. She also said parents bear responsibility for steering children away from gangs.
“If parents don’t raise their children, the streets will,” Taylor said.
