Two men were killed and a woman was hurt in a shooting early Sunday in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on the West Side, and a video of the aftermath of the event is going viral.
The victims were in a car heading south about 2:35 a.m. in the 500 block of North Avers when shots were fired from the sidewalk, Chicago Police said.
The driver, Darron Thomas, 32; and the front-seat passenger, Kenneth J. Wallace, 35, were shot multiple times and pronounced dead at the scene, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Wallace lived in the 4800 block of West Washington, and Thomas lived in the 3300 block of West 61st, the medical examiner’s office said.
A 26-year-old woman in the back seat suffered a graze wound to her right ankle and was taken to Norwegian American Hospital, where her condition stabilized.
In a video posted to YouTube, dozens of community members could be seen visibly upset that Chicago Police had removed the car from the crime scene with the bodies of Thomas and Wallace still inside. The video is titled, “So damn disrespectful, this is just not right …”
Warning: Video includes raw language:
The crowd can be seen shouting, swearing and aggressively approaching police, prompting one officer to ready his baton and hold it in the air.
The video, by user “Jay Hustle,” has garnered more than 700,000 views on various social media sites, including Facebook.
“They tow the car with a body hanging out of the window,” Hustle can be heard saying. “When did it become procedure to tow a car with a deceased body hanging out of a window with a repo truck? Only in Chicago.”
In response to the video, Chicago Police issued a statement saying certain “unique circumstances” warrant keeping a body inside a vehicle while it is removed from the scene.
“From time to time, depending on the unique circumstances of the death, bodies may be left in vehicles and removed in private area at the ME’S office. This would be done to protect the integrity of the crime scene (the car) while at the same time preserving the dignity of the deceased by handling their bodies in a private area rather than on the street in full view of onlookers.
“CPD is sensitive to the handling of bodies in public, and detective bureau has implemented procedures to minimize any community concerns that may arise from the manner in which crime scenes are processed.”
—Chicago Sun-Times Wire
