PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) – Peoria police have confirmed that five to six people were shot in South Peoria late Wednesday night.
Officers were called to the 2200 block of West Marquette Street just before 9 p.m. That’s in between South Westmoreland Avenue and Madison Park Terrace.
A slew of rescue vehicles filled the street. Crime tape was draped across several parts of the intersection and the street. Multiple ambulances raced away from the scene after patients were loaded inside. On scene are the Peoria Police Department, Peoria County Sheriff’s Office and Illinois State Police.
Terry Burnside of the House of Hope said that he believed six people were shot. He believed that all six were teenagers. Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood said his office has not yet been called.
Several on social media were reporting the incident. Videos of people gathered on Marquette were posted in many spots.
Gun violence has ravaged Peoria in the past month. And in August, shootings have become an almost daily occurrence and there have been five homicides in the city limits or just outside. Of those five, four were due to gunfire.
If reports of six victims are true, Wednesday night’s incident will be the largest mass shooting in Peoria since July 2020 when 13 people were shot on Peoria’s Riverfront during an informal street party. No one was killed in that incident three years ago, although one was paralyzed.