For a Chicago pastor who has rushed to innumerable murder scenes over the past decade, showing up minutes later to comfort those impacted by senseless violence, what he saw on Wednesday night after a shooting outside a club hit him harder than he ever imagined.
Pastor Donovan Price thought he had seen it all. However, what he found outside the Artis Restaurant and Lounge in the city’s River North neighborhood, following a record release party for local rapper Mello Buckzz, continues to haunt him, he said Thursday morning.
“I didn’t expect that many people to be shot, police calling for six more ambulances, and everybody just going crazy, trying to find the people they were with, find their cell phones, find the keys to their cars, just madness,” Price told The Independent. “And then, the amount of blood in the street. Stepping in blood, the mayhem, people laying in the street… I just really was overwhelmed by the number of people who were actually involved, and not bystanders – just, everybody had a stake in what had just happened.”
As unsuspecting attendees streamed out of the club shortly after 11pm, a dark-colored SUV pulled up and a person – or persons – inside the vehicle started shooting into the crowd, leaving four dead and 14 wounded, according to cops. The SUV immediately fled, and no arrests have yet been made.
Price arrived 20 to 25 minutes after the bullets began flying, he said.
“I work with homicides and shootings here in Chicago, I’ve been doing it since 2016, I had never seen anything quite like this,” he went on. “And so it was a big shock.”
Price said he immediately “ran in and helped folks and did what I could,” assisting victims, helping family members find loved ones and trying to reassure traumatized witnesses. And while he was totally focused on the task at hand, Price said, “it was still very taxing, more taxing than it had perhaps been before.”
“Afterwards, I went to three of the hospitals and there were a lot of people to calm down outside,” Price explained, voice breaking with emotion. “Once it was over, I was able to just kind of take a breather, and it was very sad.”
He found himself sobbing over what he had witnessed, Price said.
In the aftermath, Price took to X to express what he was feeling.
“2 hours ago my life changed,” Price posted at 3:01 a.m.
“pray for these… every time I try to talk tears run down my face,” he posted a half-hour later.
“just sitting in my car crying for some of the people I held tonight,” Price posted at 3:53 a.m.
Of the 18 people shot, five were men and 13 were women, police said. All but two of the victims were between the ages of 21 and 32.
A 24-year-old man and a 25-year-old man were among the four dead; two women were also killed, but no further details on them were provided by authorities. Mello Buckzz later posted on Instagram that her boyfriend and best friend had died in the shooting.
“Prayers up for all my sisters, God please wrap your arms around every last one of them,” Buckzz said in a subsequent statement. “We need you, I need you…”
As of early Thursday, three of the 14 people injured were listed in critical condition, nine were listed in good condition, one was listed in fair condition and one was listed in stable condition.
By the numbers, shootings and homicides in Chicago have dropped sharply, with declines of 39 percent and 33 percent, respectively. At the same time, Price told The Independent that “things seem more intense, the dynamic has changed.”
As far as gun violence goes, Price said, “There may always be a problem there. There has always been a problem.”
“I do know that many people are doing great work to battle this, and I hope they get the strength [to keep going] despite cuts in budgets and that type of thing, but all we can do is continue to [try],” Price went on.
He said he hopes that “we, as people, as a nation, as cities, as a world,” can recognize our individual roles in helping create a less violent existence for all.
“Maybe all you can do is sit in your chair and pray,” Price said. “Make sure you do that. If you know young people out there, speak to them. Speak to the people you know, the people in your circle, and if the next person does the same thing, and the next person does the same thing, then the whole community will be safe.”
