A man is dead and a woman is injured after someone fired into their car from an SUV in Wicker Park early Thursday. Witnesses told Chicago police the incident began as a fight outside a nearby bar.
Initially, officers responded to a call of a fight outside a bar in the 1300 block of North Milwaukee around 1:30 a.m. Cops found a man unconscious and summoned an ambulance, but he regained consciousness and declined both medical attention and police services, an officer said.
Moments later, a black Jeep pulled up next to a car with three occupants traveling south in the 1200 block of North Milwaukee. Police said someone inside the Jeep began shooting at the other vehicle, a dark-colored Kia, striking a 33-year-old man and a 34-year-old woman inside.
The Kia continued to the 1600 block of West Congress, where it crashed near Rush University Medical Center. Police said the male shooting victim sustained a gunshot wound to the abdomen and later died. The woman was shot in the hip and shoulder. EMS took her to Stroger Hospital in critical condition.
Investigators found a gun inside the Kia, according to a CPD media statement, and officers are questioning a man riding in the car’s back seat. He was not injured.
Police found 13 shell casings on Milwaukee Avenue across from a FootLocker store. The windows of a nearby business were also struck by gunfire, but no other injuries were reported.
So far this year, five people have been shot in Wicker Park and Bucktown. There were three victims at this point last year, according to records maintained by CWBChicago.
Editor’s note: CPD said the man who died was 33-years-old, but state records indicate that he was 28.