UPDATE: A third person who attended the meeting contacted us to confirm the details relayed by other neighbors, except they remembered the officer saying that she was “skeptical” of the victim’s story.
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Chicago police late Monday said they have yet to identify a motive in the shooting of a 27-year-old Lakeview restaurant server as she walked home from work in the 600 block of West Surf early Saturday. The victim reported that she was shot under her right breast by an unknown white man who fired a gun as he pedaled by on a bike around 1:30 a.m.
The case update came just hours after two residents wrote to CWBChicago about how inquiries regarding the case were handled by an officer during the local community policing meeting at Second Unitarian Church, 656 West Barry, on Monday evening.
“The police always victim blame at these things,” said a resident who lives a couple of blocks from the shooting scene. ”Tonight was a new low.”
“When asked about the shooting on Surf,” the attendee continued, “[the officer] rolled her eyes at the ‘random’ aspect of it and said she finds it very ‘suspicious’ that it wouldn’t be someone she knew.”
But top CPD spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi told CWBChicago late Monday, “I’m not aware of any potential motive in that investigation. We are taking the shooting extremely seriously, and detectives have been working continuously since the incident occurred.”
“Area North is still working to gather video to get some leads in the shooting and have also interviewed individuals at the business where the victim works,” Guglielmi continued. “At this time, there’s not enough conclusive evidence to speculate on a possible motive.”
At the CAPS meeting, the police officer “said they think they have the guy on his bike on video,” according to one of the attendees. “I wish they would release it while memories are still fresh about that night.”
Meanwhile, a friend of the victim told a local neighborhood watch group that “it was entirely random. She was walking home from work, and couldn’t even make it the one block between work and her apartment on Surf. She doesn’t know the person. It wasn’t a hit. It was not drug-related, nor was it related to any other criminal activity. It was not an ex, and it didn’t stem from relationship drama. She can’t even think of any customers she could have potentially pissed off at work that night.”
“As hard as it is to swallow, this was a completely random act of violence,” he concluded. “If the guy is ever caught, maybe we’ll find out his personal motivation, but as it relates to her, there is simply no reason for this to have happened.”
Another co-worker of the victim previously told CWBChicago that the victim “was working as normal, leaving to go home as usual” when she was shot.
The victim remains hospitalized at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
Regarding audience members’ perceptions that an officer had “rolled her eyes” and called the shooting situation “suspicious,” Guglielmi said, “we expect every member of this department to act with the highest levels of professionalism and integrity.”
