One man was shot and police recovered two firearms in separate incidents as another large group of young adults and teens flooded the Loop on Saturday night and early Sunday, according to police records. Charges are pending in the gun cases, but no one has been arrested for the shooting.
According to police, officers heard gunfire and quickly found a 20-year-old man shot on the 100 block of North Wabash around 12:39 a.m. The victim was reportedly walking with a group of people when a man opened fire from another group passing by. According to police, the injured man told investigators that he didn’t know anyone in the other group. Officers found four shell casings on Wabash Avenue.
Police said the victim does not appear to have any previous contact with CPD. He declined medical attention for a graze wound to his left leg, the police department said. In a statement, police described the gunman as a Black male who wore a black hooded sweatshirt and a ski mask.
The shooting unfolded about a block from where police arrested two people and seized two handguns in less than 30 minutes on Saturday evening. One man was arrested near Washington and Garland Court around 9:44 p.m. after police allegedly saw a handgun in his bag. Shortly after 10 p.m., another man was arrested in the same location because police saw him carrying a gun, too, according to initial information from CPD reports. Charges were pending in both cases.
Police maintained a heavy presence in the Loop and Millennium Park area after groups of teens and young adults began brawling near The Bean sculpture around 7:30 p.m. City officials closed Millennium Park at 9 p.m., and police forced the crowd from the park into the streets, where smaller groups continued to walk the area for several hours. One police supervisor estimated the crowd consisted of about 300 people.
Chicago police have tried to manage so-called “large group” incidents in the same area on April 27, May 1, May 2, and May 8.
Later on Sunday morning, an 18-year-old man suffered five gunshot wounds throughout his body during a drive-by in the South Loop, police said. The victim reportedly told investigators that he was standing outside a restaurant on the first block of East Cermak when someone opened fire on him from a dark SUV around 1:26 a.m. He told police that he noticed the vehicle circling the block several times before he was shot, according to a CPD statement.
The victim sought help at Mercy Hospital and was transferred to another hospital for advanced treatment.
