The last four days, ending on Sunday evening, saw a terrible bloodletting in the city of Chicago–53 shootings and four deaths.

With 33 shot and four killed, the weekend itself was bloody enough, but Wednesday night into Thursday set the table with an additional 20 Chicagoans shot in a mere sixteen-hour period.

The shootings on Thursday included a 12-year-old boy who was wounded in a drive-by shooting when entering a fast food establishment on the 200 block of South Western.

Witnesses said as many as 15 shots were fired at the boy and his friends as they entered the restaurant.

Chicago police said that another incident, likely fueled by road rage, ended with a man and woman being shot by a man who was following them in a vehicle. The man was shot in the back end, but his passenger was shot in the head and was listed in critical condition on Thursday.

The shootings continued throughout the day on Thursday, most of them gang related, police said.

But the bloody Thursday was only a precursor for the bloodletting to come over the weekend.

Between Friday and Sunday evening, another 33 were shot, with four killed. One of those murdered was a city employee who was caught in the crossfire of gang warfare.

Killed was Yvonne Nelson, an operator for the city’s 311 service, caught between warring gangs on Friday afternoon near 35th and State Street.

Thus far this year, 1,398 have been shot in Chicago, with 219 shot and killed out of a total of 245 total homicides.

In years past, the mayhem has been particularly dialed up during the Memorial Day weekend in the city. In 2014, for instance, 8 were killed and 21 wounded. The next year was even worse, with 12 killed and 45 shot in 2015. But this year’s bloody pre-Memorial Day weekend may presage a shocking toll in the days ahead.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.