A streak of violence, much of it over an eight-hour period, left 10 people dead and another 54 injured in a rash of shootings across Chicago on July 4.

In one instance, The Chicago Tribune reports, 7-year-old Amari Brown was killed by a bullet to the chest believed to be meant for his father, a ranking gang member, as he watched a fireworks display near his Humboldt Park area home.

In another shooting, 17-year-old Vonzell Banks was gunned down as he played basketball in the park named for slain teenager Hadiya Pendleton -- a high school student fatally wounded near President Barack Obama's Hyde Park area home.

Among the wounded were a 16-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl, both of whom were injured as they walked in Old Town after midnight. In another incident, a 19-year-old man was wounded near Navy Pier after two groups began fighting shortly after the fireworks display ended around 10 p.m. Saturday.

All the violence peaked late Saturday night, when as many as 30 people were shot, the vast majority of them on the South and West Sides of the city. Ironically enough, Englewood, the Southside neighborhood where the most shootings of any district in the city have occured thus far this year, did not have a single shooting over the holiday weekend.

In the Austin neighborhood, eight people were shot, and in Back of the Yards area, at least six were wounded.

A staunch proponent for tougher gun sentences, Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy stressed the outbreak of violence once again demonstrates that the number of officers patrolling the streets is not as critical as having harsher gun laws that render tougher penalties.

"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," he said. "What's the result? We're getting more guns. Well, that's great. It's not stopping the violence."

McCarthy later added, "And it's not going to stop the violence until criminals are held accountable and something is done to stem the flow of these guns into our city."

During July 4, 2014, 82 people were shot, 16 of them fatally, over an 84-hour period.