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| The victim was found behind the apartment building at left. At right is the 18th District police station. | Google |
A 24-year-old man was found fatally shot early Saturday behind a building that is directly across the street from the 18th (Near North) Police District station. Two guns were recovered in the area and two men were arrested after separate foot chases in the minutes following the shooting, according to police reports. It is not known if the guns or the detained men are linked to the homicide. Officially, police said this morning that no one is in custody for the shooting.
Police and residents reported hearing shots fired in the 500 block of West Division Street at 12:13 a.m. The shooting victim was found minutes later in a corridor behind an apartment complex at 545 West Division Street, police said. He was unresponsive and bleeding from a single gunshot wound to his upper left thigh, officers said.
The victim was pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital at 12:53 a.m. He is known to police in the area, according to a department source.
A man who was running near the shooting scene while holding his side, possibly indicating that he was carrying a firearm, was chased by officers through the nearby police station parking lot before being taken into custody in the 1000 block of North Crosby Street. A police canine that searched the pursuit area found a handgun near the intersection of Larrabee and Elm, according to police.
Around 12:25 a.m., police chased another man and took him into custody near Elm and Cleveland after deploying a Taser. A handgun was found in his possession, according to police.
This morning’s shooting unfolded about two blocks from Seward Park where three people were shot during a “peace picnic” on the evening of August 18th. No one has been charged with that crime.
