Violence disrupted the relative calm of two Chicago neighborhoods on a Friday afternoon, leaving two men wounded in separate shootings. In Logan Square, two 29-year-old men found themselves the unintended canvas for the all-too-common brush of urban violence: one in the arm, the other in the shoulder, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The latter was taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition, while his companion’s injuries were less severe, and his treatment at Illinois Masonic Medical Center landed him in good condition.
These shootings seem to paint a narrative that residents, such as the unnamed man quoted by the Sun-Times, believed was drying in favor of safety. “I always brag about how this neighborhood has gotten safer over the years, but lately it seems like more crime is happening around here,” he said. He had mistaken the gunshots for fireworks, a testament perhaps to the hope rather than the reality of his community’s transformation.
Nearby in Avondale, as if an echo to Logan Square’s violence, the scene was grimly familiar. NBC Chicago details a shooting at approximately 4:52 p.m. at the 3000 block of North St. Louis Avenue, where two men were shot, a 20-year-old critically, joining his 29-year-old victimized peer who suffered a wound to the arm. The proximity in timing and distance of these incidents is a cold reminder of the city’s struggle with gun violence…