Two people are hospitalized following separate shootings in the downtown area early Sunday. One victim was shot in the Loop, the other in Streeterville.
The victims are the fourth and fifth persons shot downtown since last Sunday. Police sources point to widespread street parties along Wacker Drive and parties in hotel rooms as contributing factors to the violence spike.
Sunday’s first shooting unfolded around 1:35 a.m. at the intersection of Columbus and Wacker drives in the Loop. Police said a 31-year-old man was sitting in a white Chevy Tahoe when a black sedan approached and gunfire broke out. He was struck once in the upper back.
The driver of the Tahoe took him to Northwestern Memorial Hospital where doctors listed the man in good condition. Northwestern University Police found the Tahoe in the 300 block of East Erie with three bullet holes in it.
Shortly after the shooting, police arrested a man who was seen carrying a gun near the LondonHouse hotel, 85 East Wacker. Cops recovered a 40-caliber handgun from the man.
Police said the shooting victim has a history of contact with CPD.
Then, at 4:08 a.m., a man was critically wounded in a shooting on the 400 block of East Ontario in Streeterville, according to police and a witness.
Officers found a man lying unconscious with gunshot wounds to his thighs and buttocks as people ran along Lakeshore Drive to get away from the gunfire. One bullet flew through a window at the nearby W Chicago Lakeshore Hotel.
In a media release, police said witnesses were being “very uncooperative” and refused to answer any questions. One person was arrested at the scene for interfering with officers.
As of 6 a.m., police did not know the victim’s name or age.
Investigators who reviewed surveillance video said one gunman was a White male with a short beard who wore an orange shirt, white shorts, and orange gym shoes. No one is in custody for the Streeterville shooting.
Shooting surge
Sunday’s shootings continue a wave of violence that has rolled through the downtown area since Memorial Day. In fact, more people have been shot in the Loop during July than in all of last year, according to CPD records.
Around 5 a.m. Saturday, a 26-year-old man was seriously wounded in a shooting just south of the Wabash Bridge. Last Sunday, one man was killed and a woman was injured when a gunman shot them on the Wabash Bridge over the Chicago River.
No arrests have been made in those cases.