Police confer near the victims’ SUV at Thorek Hospital | Courtesy: Phil D |
A confusing scene unfolded after three people were shot in a car near the North Side lakefront Wednesday evening. The victims were sitting in an SUV around 10:50 p.m. when another vehicle pulled and opened fire, police said. No one is in custody.
The victims, all riding in a Chevy Silverado SUV, drove off in search of a hospital and eventually waved down a passing police car at Cornelia and Lake Shore Drive at 10:53 p.m. Cops gave the car an escort to Thorek Hospital in Uptown.
But Thorek is a basic services facility that only had one doctor and three nurses on duty. Ambulances transferred the two more seriously wounded victims to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
A 19-year-old woman was shot in the side; a 22-year-old man was shot in the left thigh; and a 19-year-old man suffered a graze wound to his right arm, police said. All were reported in good condition. They hail from the West Lawn neighborhood, on Chicago’s Southwest Side, according to a source.
Police supervisors initially believed the victims were involved in a shooting incident near Foster Beach further north on the lakefront.
A careful search of roadways in the park from Foster to Wilson turned up no evidence of a shooting. Cops eventually determined that the three had been shot in a separate incident in the 4700 block of North Simonds Drive near Montrose Beach.
The victims’ Silverado was seen sitting outside of Thorek Hospital’s emergency entrance. Crime scene tape was draped from its mirror and trailer hitch. A hand-painted sign in the rear window read, “Congrats 2017 Linda.”