Chicago Shootings: 3 Killed, At Least 17 Wounded In Overnight City Gun Violence

On Chicago's first day with temperatures in the 80s in seven months, at least 20 people were shot over a course of about 10 hours overnight -- and three men among them are dead as of early Wednesday morning.

The shootings began around 6:15 p.m. when three people -- including a 16-year-old boy and two men aged 40 and 44 -- were shot in the 10800 block of South Princeton Avenue. According to the Chicago Tribune, the 16-year-old was listed in stable condition and the older men were in serious-to-critical condition.

Later in the evening, around 10:40 p.m., three men were shot in the 1000 block of West Maxwell Street, which is across the street from the headquarters of the UIC Police Department. DNAinfo Chicago reports 19-year-old Tytrell Jackson was shot in the armpit and pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital at 11:13 p.m. The two other men -- aged 19 and 21 -- were listed in "stable" condition at Stroger.

Just after midnight, 27-year-old Darrin Rodgers was shot in the chest on the same block where he lived -- the 6800 block of South Cornell Avenue in the city's South Shore neighborhood -- and died shortly after being rushed to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, becoming the city's first homicide death of the month of May, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

Around 1:20 a.m., Pierre Howlett, 23, was found dead with gunshot wounds to his face and body in an alley in the 1900 block of South Drake Avenue, according to Fox Chicago.

The bloody evening came ahead of the city announcing a 42 percent dip in the number of murders in Chicago during the first four months of the year -- the fewest murders over that period since 1963. Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy appeared on ABC Chicago and other local news broadcasts to announce the news, which he chalked up to a "comprehensive policing strategy and the hard work of our officers," according to the Associated Press.

In an appearance on NBC, McCarthy conceded, "We're going to have good days, we're going to have bad days" and counted Tuesday evening among them. He added the department will need to "examine what happened" that contributed to the violent night.