Memorial Day weekend crime: 39 shot, 8 dead, mayhem downtown

CHICAGO - As Chicagoans held barbecues and visited parks and beaches amid scorching temperatures this Memorial Day weekend, at least 39 people were shot throughout the city, seven of them fatally, while police officials added more than 1,000 officers to patrol the streets.

Shootings happened in neighborhoods stretching as far south as West Pullman and Brainerd, to West Side communities like Austin and East Garfield Park and to Northwest Side areas that usually don't see much violence like Portage Park and Albany Park. One strangulation death also was reported.

With the shooting tally from 3 p.m. Friday through 6 a.m. Tuesday, this year's Memorial Day weekend was less violent than last