(Chicago Sun-Times) After a shooting outside a South Side funeral home wounded 15 people Tuesday, local funeral directors expressed shock while one announced new safety measures to minimize future violence.
“It’s a tragic situation for everyone involved,” said Charles Childs Jr., funeral director of A.A. Rayner & Sons Funeral Home in Park Manor on the South Side
Childs said his facility would limit services to morning hours to minimize the possibility of a retaliatory shooting.
He said the funeral home would continue to request a police presence during funerals for gang members, which is standard protocol for all Chicago funeral homes contacted Wednesday by the Sun-Times.
“It’s a tragedy that these gang members keep exhorting this violence on each other,” Childs said. “It’s a terrible thing for our community. It’s doubly sad for this to be at a funeral. Children could’ve been involved.”
Tuesday’s shooting at Rhodes Funeral Services in Gresham — which had the largest number of shooting victims in Chicago in recent memory — also had a police tactical team standing by prior to the shooting, but that did little to discourage the violence.
Police said a Chevy Malibu pulled up outside about 6:30 p.m. and gunman inside let off 60 rounds.
