Latest news with #MelloBuckzz
CBS News
16-07-2025
- CBS News
River North lounge shutting down after deadly Chicago mass shooting
Artis Restaurant and Lounge in Chicago's River North neighborhood announced it will shut down after a deadly mass shooting earlier in the month. In a statement on Instagram, owners of Artis Restaurant and Lounge said their "curated space of love and acceptance was threatened by a senseless act of hate." Owners said they will "carry this scar" forever. Chicago police said around 11 p.m. on July 2, a dark vehicle drove past the building at 311 W. Chicago Ave., and three people from inside the vehicle fired shots into a crowd of people standing on the sidewalk. Four people were killed and 14 others were wounded in the shooting. The crowd was leaving Artis Lounge following an album release party for rapper Mello Buckzz. Police said the shooting was a targeted attack, with some of the victims among Mello Buckzz's inner circle. Chicago Police Belmont Area detectives are investigating, and have urged witnesses or anyone else with information to come forward. Cook County Crime Stoppers announced Monday that they are offering a cash reward of $10,000 for information leading to arrests in a mass shooting that left four people dead and 14 wounded outside the Artis Restaurant and Lounge in Chicago's River North neighborhood last week. In addition to that hotline, anyone with information can submit a tip at or email TIPS@ Crime Stoppers noted that tipsters need not give their names, and a code number will be issued to claim any eligible reward.
CBS News
05-07-2025
- CBS News
7 hospitalized after mass shooting in Back of the Yards neighborhood, police say
Seven people were hospitalized following another mass shooting Friday night in Chicago, this time on the city's Southwest Side. It happened after 11 p.m. in the 4800 block of South Justine Street in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. Chicago police said officers responded to a call of multiple people shot. Preliminary reports indicated that two unknown men approached the victims on foot, pulled out guns, and shot into a crowd of people who were standing outside, hitting the seven victims. A 27-year-old woman was hit in the left leg, a 21-year-old woman was hit in the right thigh, and a 21-year-old man was hit in the right quad and right foot. They were taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital in serious condition. Four others were taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center. A 29-year-old man was shot in the left arm and is listed in serious condition. A 25-year-old woman was hit in the left flank and is in serious condition. A 25-year-old woman was hit in the rear and is in critical condition, and a 42-year-old man was hit in the left calf and is in critical condition. As of Saturday, no one is in custody. Area 1 detectives are investigating. This is the fifth mass shooting in the city since Wednesday. That's when 4 people were killed and 14 others were wounded in a shooting outside a River North nightclub, where an album release party for Chicago rapper Mello Buckzz occurred. Two other mass shootings followed in less than 24 hours. Four people were wounded in a mass shooting early Thursday in the Riverdale neighborhood. Four other men were also wounded in the West Englewood neighborhood later that evening. Early Saturday morning, four other men were shot while sitting inside a parked car in the Marshall Square neighborhood.
Daily Mail
04-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Four killed and dozens injured after gunfire erupts at popular rapper's album release party
Four people were killed and more than a dozen others were wounded in what police have called a 'targeted' drive-by shooting at a Chicago rapper's album release party Wednesday night. Police have said that at around 11pm, a dark vehicle drove past Artis Restaurant and Lounge in the city's River North neighborhood where crowds gathered to celebrate the release of rapper Mello Buckzz's new album, Hollyhood. As many as three occupants of the vehicle then opened fire into the crowd. In shocking surveillance footage shared online shows, the dark-colored car could be seen pulling up next to the restaurant on West Chicago Avenue when at least one person pointed a gun out of the window and began firing. The gunshots immediately sent a large group of people standing on the sidewalk outside scrambling to find cover. One witness claimed to the Chicago Sun-Times he heard at least two dozen shots before police arrived on the scene. Victims ranging in age from 21 to 32 were then rushed to community hospitals, where two men and two women were pronounced dead and four others remain in critical condition, CBS News reports. The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office has since identified the male victims as 25-year-old Leon Andrew Henry and 23-year-old Devonte Terrell Williamson, who was dating Mello Buckzz. The names of the female victims have not yet been released, but Shaniah Battle, who was among the wounded, told CBS News that one of them was her sister, Aviance King. Mello Buckzz, whose real name is Melanie Doyle, also identified the other victim as a woman named Taylor in a tribute on social media. 'Prayers up for all my sisters, God please, wrap yo' arms around every last one of them,' the rapper added in another post. 'Feel like everything just weighing down on me... all I can do is talk to God and pray.' She also shared pics of her and Williamson together, with a caption reading 'my handsomeee man.' 'I don't wish this typa pain on nobody,' Mello Buckzz added. Police now say they believe the rap star was the intended target of the shooting - but she had already left the venue when the assailants opened fire. An unidentified source also told the Sun-Times the occupants of the black Honda Accord initially circled around the front of the club to see who was there. When the car then came back around, the occupants opened fire before fleeing eastward. 'They didn't care who was struck, and in a matter of seconds they were able to shoot 18 people,' Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said at a news conference on Thursday. He added that police believe it was an 'isolated' attack, noting that the restaurant was rented out specifically for the album-release party. Snelling went on to say that police believe there may have been as many as three shooters, with police finding both handgun and rifle rounds from the scene and several shell casings inside the club. But he would not confirm or deny whether the shooting may have been gang related, as Mello Buckzz appeared to claim an affiliation with a Chicago gang on her Facebook page. It includes a reference to NLMB - an acronym for the No Limit Muskegon Boys gang in the city, the Sun-Times reports. Prominent drill rapper G Herbo is a longtime associate of the gang and was featured on a track on Mello Buckzz's new album. As the police investigation continues, Snelling said officers issued as summary closure of the restaurant - which is located at the site of a nightclub that was shut down by city officials more than two years ago after a fatal mass shooting happened outside. The police superintendent added that officers stand prepared for any possible retaliation. 'There's coordination - not only coordination with our local partners here, but also our federal partners when it comes to the possibility of gang conflict,' the police superintendent said. 'We're also making sure that anything that we uncover - and there's a possibility of retaliation - we would have an idea of where that retaliation could occur and we would put resources in place to prevent that.' Police will also be out in full force over the holiday weekend 'making sure we are keeping the city safe and protecting lives,' Snelling assured the public. Police will be out in full force for the holiday weekend and are prepared for any possible retaliation, Superintendent Larry Snelling said In a statement, the owners of Artis Lounge confirmed they are working with police in their investigation. 'Last night, an act of violence occurred within the vicinity of our restaurant and it deeply shook us,' they said. 'Artis was created as a safe space. A space where black, brown, queer and allied communities could gather, be celebrated and feel at home in River North. We've always led with that mission. And what happened last night disrupted it in the most painful way.' 'Our hearts are with the victims and their loved ones.'
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Yahoo
4 Killed and 14 Injured in Mass Shooting Outside Chicago Nightclub After Artist's Album Release Party
Four people were killed and 14 were injured in a drive-by shooting in downtown Chicago The shooting occurred after an album release party for rapper Mello Buckzz Police have not yet arrested a suspectFour people were killed and another 14 were injured in a drive-by shooting outside a nightclub in downtown Chicago. The Wednesday, July 2, shooting was reported by CBS News Chicago, NBC Chicago and the Chicago Sun-Times, all citing police. Police reportedly said a dark car pulled up outside Artis Restaurant and Lounge and at least one person opened fire on the crowd after rapper Mello Buckzz's album release party, according to CBS. Two men, aged 24 and 25, were fatally shot, as were a 26-year-old and a 27-year-old woman, CBS reported. Three of the victims were shot in the chest, while the 25-year-old was shot in the head. The vehicle fled the scene immediately after, according to the reports. The age range of the wounded victims spans from 21 years old to 32, according to the reports. Four women were listed in critical condition, the Sun-Times paper reported that the nightclub is the site of a former club that the city closed in 2022 following another fatal shooting. NBC reported that the city declared the former nightclub, Hush Chicago, a "public safety threat." No arrests have been made in connection with the drive-by shooting. 'It was a chaotic scene,' witness Roger Tanner told the Sun-Times. 'It was so many young people. I thought they were having fun.' Read the original article on People
Straits Times
03-07-2025
- Straits Times
4 dead and 14 injured in Chicago drive-by shooting
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Four people died and 14 others were injured late on July 2 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 in 2025 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 July 3, adding that 'we are mobilising now to make sure that this incident does not return and bring about more violence'. Mr Larry Snelling, the superintendent of the Chicago Police Department, said that an unknown number of shooters opened fire at around 11pm from a dark-colored vehicle as it drove along Chicago Avenue in the city's River North neighborhood, about 1.6km 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 on the evening of July 2 to celebrate her release of a new album. 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 on July 3, 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 the afternoon of July 3, and no arrests had been announced. Many nights in Chicago are marred by multiple shootings, and police records show that late on July 2 and early July 3 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 3.15am, 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 in 2025. Through last week, there had been 187 criminal homicides in the city, according to police data, down 32 per cent from the same period in 2024 and down 46 per cent from four years ago. There had been 664 shooting incidents in the city in 2025 through last week, which is down nearly 40 per cent from 2024. The violence on the night of July 2 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 the night of July 5, and thousands of visitors are expected to attend Nascar races on July 5 and 6 in a different part of downtown. 'I just believe things are trending in the right direction,' Mr Snelling, the police superintendent, said July 3. '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 7am on July 3, there was no longer a visible police presence at the shooting scene. Commuters arrived at a nearby L public transit 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. That business, Artis Restaurant and Lounge, said on its Instagram page on July 3 that it was working with the authorities. Mr Snelling said a 'summary closure' order had been issued to the business, which he said 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 LGBTQ+ patrons. 'Our hearts are with the victims and their loved ones.' Mr 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 organised by promoters, events that have frequently been the targets of gun violence. The owners of the restaurant did not immediately respond to a request for comment on July 3. 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 decision to rent the space out for the album release party, he 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'. NY TIMES
