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| The city’s “summary closure” notice is plastered over Sound-Bar’s “no-gun” warning. | Provided |
Chicago police and the city’s building department issued a summary closure notice on Tuesday to Sound-Bar, the River North nightclub where a bouncer was killed, and an owner was injured by gunfire during a dispute outside the bar early Friday, according to a police spokesperson.
Local Alderman Brendan Reilly (42nd) asked CPD Superintendent Eddie Johnson to exercise his summary closure authority within hours of the shooting at 226 West Ontario. Chicago’s Summary Closure Ordinance was created to keep businesses which are deemed to be a “public safety threat” closed until the business owner takes “reasonable steps” to protect its employees, patrons and members of the public from future harm, according to the city.
Meanwhile, CWBChicago has learned that a suburban man has been charged with illegally possessing a handgun after he got swept up in the police investigation of Friday’s shooting.
Shortly after 28-year-old bouncer Thurman Bailey was killed and Sound-Bar co-owner Mark Jurcyzk was injured in the shooting, police reviewed surveillance video and determined that a vehicle that fled from the shooting scene was still at a nearby service station.
Police responded to the BP, 651 North LaSalle and began questioning occupants of the suspected vehicle. Officers were also drawn to a Mercedes-Benz that had been left running and unattended next to a fuel pump at the station, police said.
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| Lee Duncan was arrested for allegedly possessing a handgun illegally at this service station as police investigated the nearby Sound-Bar shooting. He has not been connected in any way with the nightclub incident. | CPD; Google |
Further investigation found a loaded 40-caliber handgun in the console of the Mercedes, according to court records. Police arrested 30-year-old Lee Duncan of Streamwood after he approached the Mercedes and identified himself as the owner of the car and the handgun, prosecutors said.
Duncan has been charged with felony aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and felony possession of a firearm while having a revoked Firearm Owner ID card. He is not charged or suspected in the shooting.
Police said the victims were involved in a fight with a group of approximately fifteen people on the sidewalk near an alley behind Sound-Bar at 12:10 a.m. Friday when shots were fired by an offender who ran from the scene.
Bailey was transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 1:04 a.m., the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. He had been shot in the abdomen, chest, groin, and left arm. Police said the second victim was a 58-year-old man who had bullet fragments in his leg and arm. Multiple hospitality industry sources identified the surviving victim as Jurcyzk. He is the long-time 50% owner of Sound-Bar and the full-owner of neighboring Y Bar, according to state records.
About a dozen shell casings were recovered from under the CTA tracks near Ontario and Franklin after the men were shot. No one has been charged with the crime.
Police were looking for a suspect who was seen leaving the area on foot with a handgun. He is black and was seen wearing a black jacket, green camouflage pants, and black shoes with white soles.
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| Ald. Brendan Reilly | Ward 42 |
Reilly, the local alderman, immediately called for city liquor control authorities to operate with a firmer hand following Friday’s shooting.
“These problem clubs, in aggregate, are degrading the quality of life in River North. Every weekend we witness criminal activity around these venues and most weekends fights are reported as well,” Reilly said.
“A year ago, I placed liquor license moratoria on every block in River North, to prevent new clubs from opening,” Reilly recalled. “I’m doing everything I can to try to address this – but we really need more help from the Liquor Commission to address the root of the problem.”
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