Illinois Moms Demand Action, Students Demand Action Respond to Mass Shooting in Chicago

The Illinois chapter of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, both part of Everytown for Gun Safety’s grassroots network, today released the following statement in response to a mass shooting at a large outdoor gathering Saturday night in Chicago that left four people dead, including a 14-year-old boy, and left four other people wounded. 

“This is unacceptable,” said Valerie Burgest, a volunteer with Illinois Moms Demand Action whose son, Craig Williams, was fatally shot in 2013. “We’re thinking today of each of the families affected by this tragedy. There is so much work we have to do.”

According to the Chicago Tribune, at least 68 people have been shot in Chicago over the holiday weekend, 13 of them fatally. In addition to the 14-year-old boy killed Saturday night, a 7-year-old girl was also killed Saturday evening at an outdoor family gathering. 

Research by Everytown for Gun Safety shows that the overnight mass shooting in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood was at least the 233rd mass shooting since January 2009. Every day in the U.S. on average, more than 100 people are killed with guns, and hundreds more are wounded – the majority of which do not take place during mass shootings.

Everytown defines mass shootings as those in which four or more people are shot and killed, excluding the shooter. An analysis of mass shootings from 2009 to 2018 shows there were a total of 194 mass shootings, which left 1,121 people dead and an additional 836 people wounded. 

More information on gun violence in Illinois and across the U.S. is available here.