The scene where the child was shot. Source: Screenshot via CNN/Network Video Productions Inc

A CONVULSION OF gun violence left seven people dead in 33 shooting incidents across Chicago during a chaotic Independence Day weekend in the midwestern US city, police say.

Among the dead was a seven-year-old boy who was fatally shot in the chest after returning from a Fourth of July celebration, US media reports said.

The city’s police superintendent Garry McCarthy said the boy was ”the unintended victim of a bullet meant for his father”, The Chicago Tribune reports, noting that his father is a high-ranking member of a street gang with dozens of previous convictions.

He is also not co-operating with police in their investigation into his son’s death.

Speaking on the topic of gun crime, McCarthy added:

If you think that putting more cops on the street would make a difference, then take a look at the fact that we put a third more manpower on the street for this weekend.

The warm weather and the fact that it was a holiday weekend was believed to partly explain the spike in gun crime.

Much of the bloodshed happened in just eight hours until 4:45 am on Sunday, The Chicago Tribune said, identifying a 16-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl among the victims.

Nine people have been shot and 46 injured by gunfire since Thursday.

- © AFP 2015, additional reporting by Nicky Ryan

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