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A 4-year-old girl was shot in the head and two teens were injured in a West Englewood shooting outside a prom gathering Friday night, authorities said.

The three were among at least 18 people shot between 2:45 p.m. Friday and 3 a.m. Saturday.

Aside from the 4-year-old girl, a 15-year-old girl was also shot in the head and a 17-year-old boy was shot in the neck, police said.

It happened shortly before 8 p.m. in the 7000 block of South Justine Street, said Officer Thomas Sweeney, a spokesman for the Chicago Police Department. Authorities, citing preliminary information, said two of the victims were sitting in a car outside a prom gathering when another vehicle pulled up and someone inside fired shots.

The 4-year-old girl was taken to University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital, Sweeney said.

The boy was taken in fair condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Sweeney said. Authorities said the shooting was gang related, but could not elaborate.

The 15-year-old girl was taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, where authorities said she was in good condition.

As of early Saturday morning, family members said 4-year-old Jacele Johnson’s condition had stabilized. She had surgery where doctors tried to remove a bullet from her head, said Trennetta Gresham, the girl’s mother.

“(Jacele) is a fighter,” Gresham said, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I have three kids, and I have no favorites. But me and Jacele have a special bond… That’s my best friend.”

The shooting happened as Jacele and her 17-year-old cousin sat inside a parked car, Gresham said.

Gresham said she stepped away from her car for a few minutes in order to gather her other children when the shooting happened. Gresham and her children were about to leave home after attending a graduation prom party of a friend earlier in the evening.

Nobody was in the car’s driver’s seat, and the girl’s mother Trennetta Gresham was not injured.

The cousin, Romare Wilson, 17, was hit in the shooting and his condition stabilized at Christ, Jacele’s grandfather Marvin Gresham.

Gresham said his daughter, Trennetta Gresham, lives in Minnesota with her family but has been visiting Chicago for the past couple of weeks for family reasons, staying on the South Side.

This Memorial Day weekend was supposed to be the last weekend before she went back home to Minnesota, he said.

“We got a beautiful city, but it has some evil people,” Gresham said while standing outside next to the entrance to Comer Children’s Emergency building early Saturday morning.

“Nobody knows when, where, how, why this happens,” said Marcella Gresham, the wounded girl’s aunt, as she stood next to Gresham, smoking a cigarette. “Senseless violence.”

“All the gang bangers need to know that they shouldn’t shoot kids,” Gresham said. “That’s taboo.”

Fred Massey, a security guard at a mall across from the shooting, said he heard about 15 to 20 shots fired between two vehicles. The cars came to a stop near 69th Street and Ashland Avenue, Massey said.

He said police told him a 4-year-old and another juvenile were shot about a block away, near Justine Street.

Multiple police vehicles remained at the crime scene as of about 9 p.m.

About two dozen people gathered at the scene.

“It’s just so sad, it’s so sad,” said Makeba Stevens, who said she lives in Englewood and stopped on her way home from work.

Stevens works at Roseland Hospital and said what she sees of the city’s violence makes her keep her own 17-year-old son at home or busy with sports as much as she can.

“All these kids, it just makes no sense. And summer hasn’t even started yet,” she said.

In other shootings:

• A 20-year-old man was killed about 2:10 a.m. in the 1000 block of West 14th Street in the University Village / Little Italy neighborhood. Police responding to a call there found the man on the ground with gunshot wounds. He was taken to Stroger Hospital where he died from his wounds, police said.

• A 34-year-old man was shot to death in the Wicker Park neighborhood about 1:45 a.m. He was on a porch in the 1700 block of West Pierce Street when someone opened fire, hitting him multiple times. He was taken to Stroger Hospital and pronounced dead, police said.

• A 26-year-old man walked into Roseland Community Hospital with a gunshot wound to the back after someone shot him in the 11200 block of South Stewart Avenue about 3 a.m. Saturday morning. He was standing outside when someone approached and shot him, police said.

• Someone robbing a 20-year-old man of his jacket and phone near the McDonald’s at Garfield Boulevard and Michigan Avenue shot him in the leg in the Washington Park neighborhood about 1:15 a.m. The man was taken to St. Bernard Hospital wiith a leg wound, police said.

• A 21-year-old man was shot in the left shoulder while sitting in a minivan in the 3200 block of West Walnut Street in the East Garfield Park neighborhood about 1:05 a.m. He was shot by someone on the street that fired toward the his vehicle, police said. He walked into Norwegian American Hospital with the injury.

• Two people were shot in the Brainerd neighborhood about 12:30 a.m., police said. A 44-year-old man was shot in the right thigh and a 19-year-old man was hit in the right forearm, police. The two were on a sidewalk on the 9300 block of South Normal Avenue when someone in a passing white sedan fired shots at them, police said. Both were taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in stable condition.

• About the same time, two people were shot in the 1100 block of West 104th Street in the Washington Heights neighborhood. A 45-year-old woman was shot in her left ankle and an 18-year-old boy was shot in his foot and his finger, police said. Both were taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in stable condition.

• Two men were left in critical condition after someone shot them in the Humboldt Park neighborhood early Saturday morning. They were inside an apartment in the 900 block of North Monticello Avenue about 12:15 a.m. when someone else inside the apartment opened fire, police said. A 20-year-old was hit in the neck and arm and a 21-year-old was shot in the back and chest, police said. Both were taken to Mount Sinai Hospital.

• A 15-year-old boy was dropped off at Mount Sinai Hospital with gunshot wounds to the left side of his body about 12:15 a.m. He first told police he was shot on a ramp from Interstate 55 to Damen Avenue but later told police he was shot on Lake Shore Drive not far south of Roosevelt Road. He is expected to recover from his gunshot wounds. It’s not clear if police ever found a crime scene.

• Someone shot a 25-year-old man in the Austin neighborhood about 11 p.m. The attack happened near Menard Avenue and Erie Street and the man wounded walked into West Suburban Medical Center seeking treatment for his wound. He told police he heard shots and felt pain. He was hit in the left calf and is in stable condition, police said.

• A 37-hear-old man was shot friday about 7:15 p.m. in the 2900 block of West 66th Street in the city’s Marquette Park neighborhood. He was shot in the leg or groin area, and he was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in serious condition, Sweeney said.

• In another attack Friday about 2:45 p.m., a 21-year-old man was shot in the hip on the West Side after a fight that police said was gang-related. The victim was involved in a fight in the 3000 block of West Roosevelt Road in the city’s Lawndale neighborhood, and after the brawl he fled to a vehicle but “unknown offender or offenders” then fired shots, hitting him in the hip, Sweeney said. The man got himself to Stroger Hospital, where his condition stabilized after the incident.

Source: Chicago Tribune