For the second time this week, police are investigating what appears to be a rolling gun battle through the city streets.
Two people are injured, including one man who may also be a shooter, after the shoot-out rolled along a half-mile stretch of Division Street between Orleans Street and Larrabee Street around 1:32 p.m. Saturday.
One of the cars involved crashed directly across from the 18th District (Near North) police station on the 1100 block of North Larrabee.
“Bro! There’s a shoot-out!” a driver yells in a Snapchat video as he sits in traffic near Chicago Avenue and Division Street. Gunfire is heard when he opens his door.
“Oh, sh*t! Sh*t! F*ck! Get the f*ck down, bro!” Watch the video (strong language):
Another witness “thought it was firecrackers but we saw leaves falling from the trees and dust flying everywhere.”
“I tore my Achilles in June and couldn’t run. Jumped in a bush,” they said.
Shell casings littered Division Street, and nearby residents reported bullets flying into their homes while motorists’ cars were struck by gunfire.
Recordings of CPD radio traffic show an officer at the police station radioed “shots fired” at 1:32 p.m. More than 30 seconds later, he radios again: “They’re still firing.”
A 28-year-old woman was shot in the right arm as she rode through the intersection of Division and Orleans. She sought help at a nearby fire station where firemen reported seeing two cars driving into oncoming traffic while firing at each other. A CFD truck is seen backing into the station in the Snapchat video above. The woman, who police said was not an intended target, was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in good condition.
A Buick Regal involved in the shooting turned onto the 1100 block of North Larrabee and crashed near the 18th District station parking lot, police said. That car’s driver, a 32-year-old man, suffered gunshot wounds to his right leg and torso, according to police. A 1-year-old boy in the vehicle suffered cuts to his feet from broken glass and was taken to Lurie Children’s Hospital in good condition, police said.
Officers found a handgun on the Buick’s driver-side floor panel. Officers are now guarding the man at Northwestern while the investigation continues.
On September 1, another gun battle rolled past the 18th District station. A man who drove into the police parking lot to get away from the gunfire crashed into the district’s prisoner transport van and wound up receiving multiple traffic tickets for his trouble.
Officers assigned to the station patrol neighborhoods like River North, Streeterville, the Gold Coast, and Old Town.
Wednesday, a daylight shoot-out between at least two SUVs rolled through the West Loop, leaving four bystanders injured along with one man who was apparently inside one of the SUVs.
No arrests have been made in that case.
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