3 More Shot on the Hill

Three more people were shot on the Hill Monday night, putting the number of casualties at seven and the death toll at two.

The three men were sitting in a PT Cruiser near the corner of Fairmont Avenue and Cardinal Lane when they were all shot shortly before 11 p.m. A 33-year-old in the back seat was hit in the left thigh. A 34-year-old in the front passenger seat took a bullet to his back shoulder. The 38-year-old driver was merely grazed on his right shoulder.

The driver headed for Presence St. Joseph Medical Center where the men’s wounds were treated.

The men reportedly told police they were in the area to pick up a female friend. They offered no information about who shot them or why they were attacked, police said.

The recent spate of gun violence on the Hill started Aug. 19 when a 21-year-old was shot in the leg but survived to make his own way over to Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox. The young man gave police no description of his attacker.

Four days after that shooting, 22-year-old SjonTre Thompson was killed and a 28-year-old woman was wounded at practically the same location.

Thompson was sitting in a car with the woman when they were ambushed in a walk-up gun attack.

Within a week, police identified the alleged shooter and took him into custody. Ex-convict Lonnie Pinnick, 24, was charged with the slaying and remains in custody at the Will County jail.

Early on the morning of Sept. 13, David M. Kelly, 22, was found shot to death inside a car. In the aftermath of the killing, detectives had no witnesses or description of the gunman.

Police searched the area around where the four men were shot Monday night but reportedly turned up no leads.