A 19-year-old man is in good condition after being shot in the leg near the tennis courts at 3651 N. Recreation Drive as he enjoyed Saturday’s warm weather with his wife and child, police said. No one is in custody.
One round from the shooting flew across Lake Shore Drive and into the 35th floor apartment of an 86-year-old man. The man—said to be “startled” by the notion of being nearly shot in his own living room—was transported by ambulance for observation. He was not shot.
According to the shooting victim, his family was enjoying the park shortly before 10PM when a group of four young Hispanic men approached, “began saying gang stuff” and then opened fire. The four were last seen fleeing the area in an older model gray Nissan.
Witnesses reported seeing a trail of the victim’s blood stretch from one end of the tennis courts to the other.
The shooting victim’s wife drove him to Weiss Hospital in Uptown where he is being treated for a through-and-through gunshot wound to his left thigh, police said.
As CWB Chicago has frequently reported, the lakefront around Recreation Drive is a popular hangout for largely Hispanic street gangs. The nearby seawall is routinely covered in tags by rival gangs and reports of gunfire are relatively common in the area. Two men were shot there in a gang-related incident on July 6, 2014.
