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Dozens Shot In Chicago Over Holiday Weekend

Posted at 12:57 PM, Jul 07, 2014
and last updated 2014-07-07 12:57:22-04

Chicago Lakefront(CNN) — Dozens of people were shot across Chicago over the Fourth of July holiday weekend — some by police officers — CNN affiliates WGN, WLS and WBBM reported.

The stations reported at least 11 were killed and at least 50 others were injured in Chicago shootings since Thursday.

In 2013, 12 people died and 75 were injured during the four-day Independence Day holiday, WLS reported.

Chicago police told CNN that officers shot five suspects from Friday to Saturday, killing two of them. They did not release details about the other reported shootings.

Police spokesman Martin Maloney told WBBM that the city will continue a summer program to flood high-violence areas with police, according to WGN.

“We saw an unacceptable level of gun violence this weekend, and there is clearly much more work to be done,” the station quoted him as saying.

He said the city was facing an “uphill battle” and needed better state and federal laws to keep guns off the streets.

The holiday shootings follow a week in which Chicago had 52 shooting incidents, according to police department statistics. This year, as of June 29, Chicago police had recorded 880 shooting incidents, an average of nearly five a day.