Funeral Procession Shooting: Mourner Shot Outside Cemetery

CHICAGO — Two people were injured after someone opened fire during a funeral procession Wednesday afternoon near the entrance of Mount Hope Cemetery on 115th Street in the Mount Greenwood neighborhood. Police said a 53-year-old man who was an occupant of the vehicle was shot in the leg, and a second passenger was hurt when shattered glass got into his eye.

Police said two separate funeral processions, one headed west and the other east on 115th Street, were waiting to turn into the cemetery around 1:15 p.m.. The westbound procession was being let into the gate first, while the second procession waited on 115th Street to enter the cemetery.

The services were for an 80-year-old man and a 75-year-old man.

“This incident was not related to a gang funeral,” Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th) said in an email to residents.

One of the vehicles in the procession stopped to allow other vehicles to enter the cemetery. A motorist in a black Dodge Challenger stopped in the eastbound lane of traffic became frustrated and cut through the procession. Police said the driver of the Dodge Challenger exchanged words with the 53-year-old member of the procession, when gunfire erupted. Police believe the shooter’s car fled north on Fairfield Avenue and was not part of either procession.

The 53-year-old man was taken to Advocated Christ Medical in Oak Lawn with a non-life-threatening gunshot would to the leg, police said.

Another passenger in the same vehicle, a man in his 30s, was injured by broken glass and was taken to OSF Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Evergreen Park.

The man in his 30s has since been treated and released, O’Shea said, who learned of the shooting when residents began contacting his office.

Footage from a Chicago police POD camera and security footage provided by the cemetery is being reviewed by Area 2 - Bureau of Detectives. A red car, which police said was the vehicle the injured men were riding in, was parked inside the cemetery.

“The camera has a nice eastbound view,” said 22nd District Comdr. Sean Joyce, of the Chicago Police Department. “We don’t know what the video shows.”