4 Dead and 14 Injured in Chicago Drive-By Shooting

Gunfire from a passing car ripped into a crowd of partygoers in the River North neighborhood, the police said.

Four people died and 14 others were injured late Wednesday night when shots were fired into a crowd outside a lounge and restaurant in downtown Chicago, the police said. The incident set off a frenzied response to save bleeding victims, and started the city’s holiday weekend on a tragic note.

The Fourth of July is often tarnished by gun violence in Chicago, and municipal leaders had already been planning to send police officers and violence prevention workers into neighborhoods and potential hot spots across the city. Gun violence has declined sharply this year in Chicago, but that progress will be tested over the next few days, with large gatherings and intense heat expected.

“Shootings like these are a tragic reminder of how far we still have to go as a city,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said on Thursday, adding that “we are mobilizing now to make sure that this incident does not return and bring about more violence.”

Larry Snelling, the superintendent of the Chicago Police Department, said that an unknown number of shooters opened fire at around 11 p.m. from a dark-colored vehicle as it drove along Chicago Avenue in the city’s River North neighborhood, about a mile from Lake Michigan near the northern edge of downtown. Social media posts suggested that a local rapper, Mello Buckzz, was hosting a private event at the lounge Wednesday evening to celebrate her release of a new album.

Mr. Snelling said casings from multiple weapons, possibly including a rifle, were found near the lounge.

“Let’s call it what it is: it was deplorable and cowardly,” Mr. Snelling said of the shooting, adding, “They didn’t care who was struck, and in a matter of seconds, they were able to shoot 18 people.”

Officers found “a brutal scene” with bleeding victims and chaotic surroundings when they arrived, the superintendent said. He said police officers and Fire Department personnel used medical kits “to stop people from bleeding out,” and noted that some of the victims were taken to hospitals in squad cars.

Mello Buckzz posted on her Instagram early Thursday, saying that her boyfriend and other friends were among the victims of the shooting. “My heart hurt so bad,” she wrote, adding a crying emoji.

The police said that two men, ages 24 and 25, and two women, ages 26 and 27, were killed. Eleven women and three men, ranging in age from 21 to 32, were injured, the police said. Three of the injured women were in critical condition. No names of victims had been released by Thursday afternoon, and no arrests had been announced.

Many nights in Chicago are marred by multiple shootings, and police records show that late Wednesday and early Thursday were no exception. Shortly before the drive-by on Chicago Avenue, a man’s head was grazed by a bullet in another part of town. Not long after midnight, two people were wounded and one woman was killed in two more shootings. And around 3:15 a.m., four people were shot and injured, two of them critically, in a neighborhood on the city’s Far South Side.

Chicago, the country’s third-largest city, has long struggled with gun violence, and it continues to average more than one homicide a day. Still, the figures have fallen sharply this year. Through last week, there had been 187 criminal homicides in the city, according to police data, down 32 percent from the same period in 2024 and down 46 percent from four years ago. There had been 664 shooting incidents in the city in 2025 through last week, which is down nearly 40 percent from last year.

The violence on Wednesday night was an ominous start to a weekend when the city plans to welcome tourists and show off its central business district. A fireworks show is scheduled at Navy Pier on Saturday night, and thousands of visitors are expected to attend NASCAR races on Saturday and Sunday in a different part of downtown.

“I just believe things are trending in the right direction,” Mr. Snelling, the police superintendent, said on Thursday. “Last night was a terrible, terrible, terrible thing that occurred, but we’re going to continue to fight and keep those things down.”

The downtown shooting took place on the edge of a tourist-friendly neighborhood known for nightlife, hotels and restaurants. The area has struggled with vacant storefronts since the Covid-19 pandemic, including a large former Walgreens store next to where the shooting happened.

By 7 a.m. Thursday, there was no longer a visible police presence at the shooting scene. Commuters arrived at a nearby ‘L’ stop or grabbed a coffee at the Starbucks down the block. Employees at a Dunkin’ store swept up shattered glass inside their business. Television camera crews blocked part of the sidewalk.

The lounge near the shooting had a “BYOB,” or bring your own beverage, sign in its window, as well as a city notice from May indicating indicated it was seeking a liquor license. By Thursday afternoon, a new, bright orange sign was added to the window. It said “Business Closed by Order of the Superintendent of Police” and listed “public safety threat” as the reason.

The business, Artis Restaurant and Lounge, said on its Instagram page on Thursday that it was working with the authorities. Mr. Snelling said the restaurant had been rented out for a private event at the time of the shooting.

“Artis was created as a safe space,” the restaurant’s message on social media said, noting that the business was intended to welcome L.G.B.T.Q. patrons. “Our hearts are with the victims and their loved ones.”

Brendan Reilly, the City Council member for the ward where the shooting occurred, said in a statement that he would immediately pursue closing Artis permanently. Mr. Reilly has pushed for tighter restrictions on large private parties organized by promoters, events that have frequently been the targets of gun violence. In 2022, when a nightclub was operating in the space that now houses Artis, a fight outside that business escalated into gunfire, leaving three people wounded and one dead.

Mr. Reilly said the owner of Artis had provided assurances that the business “would support local artisans, foster inclusivity, and serve as a hub for connection, creativity and joy.” The owners of the restaurant did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

The decision to rent the space out for the album release party, Mr. Reilly said, showed that “the new operators were dishonest with the city about their plans for the venue and have now contributed to a devastating act of violence.”