A man was shot during an altercation at a $2,400-per-night party house in the heart of Wicker Park overnight, according to police and witnesses.
Police said the victim, age 30, got into a fight with another man inside an apartment on the 1400 block of North Milwaukee at 1:38 a.m. During the altercation, the offender pulled out a handgun, shot the victim in his left thigh, and fled the scene, according to CPD.
An ambulance transported the victim to Stroger Hospital in fair condition.
The gunman was described as a Black male who stands about 5’2” tall and has shoulder-length dreadlocks. He was wearing black pants and a black t-shirt with a colorful logo, according to a CPD report.
A witness reported seeing investigators entering a stairwell and milling around the second-floor unit of a building at 1478 North Milwaukee. The three-story building includes a two-floor Airbnb listing that is advertised as the “Aloha Mothership.”
However, the people who occupied the rental at the time of the shooting did not book through Airbnb, a spokesperson said. The company has since removed the party house from its platform, according to the spokesperson.
Police were focusing their attention on the second-floor unit, listed as “Aloha 2.0,” which is available for $2,420 a night in September. CPD evidence technicians recovered a shell casing from under the unit’s refrigerator and what appeared to be parts of a gun and discarded hair weaves from a stairwell.
The second-floor rental’s marketing pitch describes a “palatial” 2,000-square-foot space designed “specifically for the Bachelor(ette) party of your dreams…ALOHA 2.0 will have you feeling all the tropical feels.”
“With beds for 19 actual heads, this is the perfect place for a large group,” the ads say. There are two bathrooms.
The unit can be rented in conjunction with its upstairs “Aloha Bangtel” to sleep 29 people for $4,826 a night. Guests will enjoy “non-stop eye candy and Instagramable moments around every corner…Flamingos, marlins, and sharks combined with tropical florals and an all pink room and ocean sounds provides all the feels of the tropics sans the sand.”
Area Five detectives are investigating Saturday’s shooting.
In February, police recovered 25 firearms and arrested four felons when cops broke up an Airbnb party just two blocks south of this morning’s shooting scene. Police said more than 150 people were inside the unit to film a music video.