 |
| Locations of two shootings reported downtown overnight. |
Two men were shot within 30 minutes in separate incidents downtown late Thursday night and early Friday, police said. A person of interest is in custody for the first shooting, which unfolded in a Streeterville parking garage. The shooter in the second incident, which was reported at the intersection of Wacker Drive and Wabash Avenue, remains at large.
Here is what we have learned so far:
Around 11:48 p.m. on Thursday night, a security guard reported seeing a man with a gun walking on the fifth floor of a parking garage at 240 East Illinois Street. Moments later, a man dialed 911 and reported that he had been shot in the stomach on the fifth floor of the same garage.
A person of interest was taken into custody early Friday and officers at the parking garage impounded a vehicle that they believe was used by the shooter.
The shooting victim, 20, was undergoing surgery and is listed in critical condition at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
CHICAGO- A man is in serious condition this morning after being shot in the 200 block of East Illinois St in the Streeterville neighborhood. The shooting happened in a parking garage on the 5th level. Stay w/ @CSTbreaking @Suntimes for updates. #Crimeisdown #ChicagoScanner pic.twitter.com/NKOtXZ3VNu— Justin Jackson (@JJacksonCST) August 17, 2018
Across the river in the Loop, robbery may have been the motive for a shooting that left a man in critical condition, a police source said.
The 34-year-old shooting victim was with two of his brothers at 35 East Wacker Drive when a group of men approached and tried to rob them at 12:35 a.m. The groups separated, and the victim was shot moments later by a gunman who fired from a passing car, striking the man in his abdomen, according to a witness. The shooter was described as a black man in his early-20’s with dreadlocks who was wearing a white shirt and blue jeans.
Police standing outside of Northwestern Memorial Hospital said the victim had been driven there by his brothers. Crime scene tape wrapped around a black Dodge Charger with Georgia license plates at the hospital’s emergency room entrance early on Friday.
Detectives were trying to determine if the Loop shooting is related to a robbery and attack that was reported near DuSable Harbor moments earlier.
Around 12:26 a.m., a 41-year-old man was walking southbound in the 100 block of North Lake Shore Drive when a group of men approached him, announced a robbery, and began to beat him. The offenders took $300 and a gold chain before running away. One of the robbers was armed with a handgun.
The Wacker Drive incident is the second shooting of the week for the Loop, which has recorded more shootings and homicides this year than any other year since at least 2002, according to crime statistics on the city’s data portal.
A 26-year-old man was shot in both legs early Monday as he walked outside of the Chicago Hilton Hotel’s south entrance near Michigan Avenue and 8th Street. Police believed the case was narcotics-related.
On June 29th, a 14-year-old boy was shot in the leg at almost exactly the same location as this morning’s victim at 35 East Wacker Drive.
A staircase near the scene of the Wacker Drive shootings leads to a lower level where an open-air drug market continues to flourish despite police efforts to shut it down.
On February 2, police officers assigned to the narcotics den tried to stop four-time convicted felon Shomari Legghette at the foot of the staircase to speak with him about an attempted shooting in the area. Legghette fled up the stairs and was later chased by 18th District Police Commander Paul Bauer. Seconds later, Legghette shot Bauer to death outside the Thompson Center. Legghette is awaiting trial.
