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'Several people' injured in Chicago shooting: Police

Local news reports said there were as many as 10 adults struck by the gunfire and that a child was also hit.

Afp September 20, 2013

Local news reports said there were as many as 10 adults struck by the gunfire and that a child was also hit. PHOTO: AFP

CHICAGO: Police said several victims were wounded late Thursday in a shooting at a South Side Chicago park.

A police dispatcher told AFP early Friday that "there were several people shot" in the incident at around 10:15 pm local time.

"Basically, there have been no fatalities reported and there is no one in custody at this time,” the dispatcher said.

Local news reports said there were as many as 10 adults struck by the gunfire and that a child was also hit, but police would not confirm those accounts.

The shooting comes as Chicago struggles to stem an epidemic of gang violence that helped push the city's murder rate up 16 percent to 506 people last year.

President Barack Obama returned to his adopted hometown earlier this year to appeal for an end to the "senseless" gun violence ravaging Chicago as he pressed for ambitious gun control measures, which so far have been stalled in the US Congress.