20 Shot at Juneteenth Event as Panicked Crowd Scatters

One victim dies in gunfire at Illinois strip mall
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 18, 2023 11:40 AM CDT
20 Shot at Juneteenth Event as Panicked Crowd Scatters
A police officer works at the site of a mass shooting Sunday at a strip mall in Willowbrook, Illinois.   (AP Photo/Matt Marton)

Gunfire broke out at a large gathering marking Juneteenth in suburban Chicago, leaving at least 20 people wounded in a strip mall parking lot. One of them died, ABC News reports, and at least two others were hospitalized in critical condition. The DuPage County Sheriff's Office said the violence began about 12:30am Sunday in Willowbrook, about 23 miles west of Chicago. "We transported numerous victims from the scene," a sheriff's spokesman said. "Others just walked into area hospitals."

The sound of gunfire sparked panic in the crowd, witnesses said. "It was supposed to be like a Juneteenth celebration; we just started hearing shooting, so we dropped down until they stopped," Markeshia Avery told WLS. "They just kept going." Law enforcement officials said they don't know what sparked the shooting. "Everybody ran, and it was chaos," Craig Lotcie said, per the AP. (More mass shootings stories.)

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