A surge in violent crime last weekend that left dozens of Chicagoans either dead or wounded across the city did not leave the area surrounding the University untouched.
Woodlawn resident Jeremy Anthony, 24, was shot fatally in the upper back on March 17, one of several people killed over the course of what was a particularly violent weekend, CBS Local reported.
Over the unseasonably warm weekend, sporadic violence around Chicago left 10 dead and 39 wounded, the Huffington Post reported. Most of the victims, including men and women, ranged in age from their mid-teens to their 30s. Police suspect gang activity in some of the violence, including that which claimed Anthony’s life, according to CPD News Affairs.
Anthony was shot while sitting in the rear passenger side of a vehicle on the 6300 block of South Ellis Avenue around 10:00 p.m. The driver brought Anthony to the U of C Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 10:50 PM, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office. Anthony lived just south of where the shooting occurred.
Anthony’s death was the only shooting that fell within the U of C Police Department (UCPD)’s patrol area, which extends from Cottage Grove Avenue to the Lake and from East 39th to 64th Streets.
However, pedestrians in the UCPD area were hit with several robberies over spring break as well.
The morning Anthony was killed, two men robbed a woman walking down South Blackstone Avenue near East 53rd Street at around 4:35 a.m. A week later, a man was robbed at around 2:30 a.m. on March 25 as he walked down South Dorchester Avenue between East 50th and 51st Streets; elsewhere (at around the same time) a man was robbed on East 53rd Street and Ellis Avenue.
Anyone with information about the shooting is encouraged to call area detectives at (312) 747-8380.