Two men were shot in River North early Thursday, directly underneath the CPD surveillance camera that recorded a now-viral video of two men being beaten and robbed in the middle of State Street.
Just to be clear, that last sentence is not an exaggeration. This morning’s shooting occurred under that police camera, perhaps 50 yards from where the two men were attacked on Saturday.
Unfortunately, the camera’s lens was pointing away from the shooting, so it didn’t record the latest crime, according to a source.
Today’s victims were shot after they got into an argument with a man who was in a gray Pontiac Bonneville at 5 East Illinois, according to an initial CPD report.
Police said a 33-year-old man was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in good condition with a gunshot wound to his thigh. He has been arrested ten times in Chicago since 2014, mostly for narcotics and domestic violence, according to CPD records. None of those arrests were in the downtown area.
The other victim, a 30-year-old man who suffered a gunshot wound to his back, was taken to Northwestern in a car. He was in serious condition. CPD records show he has been arrested in Chicago five times since 2015, including once for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Those arrests include one on the 400 block of North State for disorderly conduct, narcotics, and resisting police in 2016; narcotics at Chicago and Dearborn in 2017; and resisting police at LaSalle and Grand in 2017.
According to court records, his gun arrest stemmed from a “shots fired” incident in the Cabrini Green neighborhood during the summer of 2018. In that case, he allegedly fought with a housing authority security guard who saw him leaving the area of the gunfire. The guard took him into custody and recovered a firearm.
Police said the gunman who shot the victims is a Black male who has dreadlocks.
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