What began as a birthday celebration at a Little Village club and moved to a basement apartment in Chicago Lawn where revelers planned to "continue the party" with a popular DJ ended in three men dead and five other people wounded.
Those were the details of Monday afternoon’s mass shooting in the Southwest Side neighborhood, according to a police report obtained by the Sun-Times.
Officers responded at 2:10 p.m. Monday to a call of people shot at a home in the 3500 block of West 59th Street, Chicago Police Chief of Patrol Jon Hein told reporters.
Witnesses told police they were having a birthday party when a fight erupted in the hallway of the basement, and "moments later, multiple gunshots were heard," according to a police report obtained by the Sun-Times.
According to the report, witnesses told investigators that after leaving a club in the 2500 block of South Kedzie Avenue, the group wanted to "continue the party" and relocated to the house on 59th Street where a popular Venezuelan DJ was performing.
The eight victims were four men and four women between the ages of 20 and 35, Hein said.
Two men were found shot toward the back of the basement of the home and were pronounced dead, according to police reports obtained by the Sun-Times.
They were identified as 28-year-old Jon Carlos Blancarcer and 32-year-old Osmer Angel Ferrer Oria, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
Hector M. Sajo, 26, was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he later died, police and the medical examiner's office said.
Two of the men, including Sajo, were shot multiple times in their bodies, police said. The third man killed had been shot in his head, chest, right thigh and right wrist.
Officers found "multiple" shell casings throughout the basement floor.
While Hein did not provide any information about the shooter or shooters, who remain at large, the report said they may have arrived in a green Subaru and tried to flee in it after the shooting, but ended up running away, north on St. Louis Avenue, on foot, according to the report.
Police found a "gun box" on the rear floorboard, and the Subaru was towed to an auto pound for processing.
Hein said he was unable to provide a potential motive.
A 27-year-old woman was shot in her head and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition, police said. A 24-year-old woman shot six times was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center in serious condition.
A 31-year-old man who was shot in his abdomen and a 21-year-old woman who was shot in her groin both took themselves to University of Illinois Hospital, police said. A 25-year-old man who was shot in his thigh was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, police said. All three were in good condition.
Hein didn't answer a question about whether any of the victims were recently arrived migrants. He said police had been called to the home before but did not elaborate.
"At this time, we have eight victims," Hein said. "We're going to solve this crime and find the individuals that are responsible for this heinous, terrible incident."
Police blocked traffic from entering the 3500 block of West 59th Street as detectives were seen entering and leaving the home Monday afternoon. Children going home from a nearby school observed the police tape and stopped to watch the scene.
El Towers, a resident who lives on the block, said he heard at least 10 gunshots followed by people running from the home, screaming. Towers told reporters that parties are often hosted at the home.
One woman who declined to give her name said she had walked on the block half an hour before the shooting. Several children were playing outside the home at the time, she said.
“I’ve been here since 1977. This is not normal,” she said.
Mayor Brandon Johnson condemned the attack and offered condolences to the victims in a social media post Tuesday.
"We as a city are praying and grieving for all the victims, survivors, and their families," Johnson said in the post. "There is no place in our city for senseless acts of violence."
