Chicago police are investigating another confirmed case of shots fired in Wrigleyville. No one was hurt this time, but the gunfire comes on the heels of last weekend when separate shootings left two people injured on the Clark Street bar strip. More gunfire was confirmed in the nearby Boystown nightlife district last Friday.
The latest incident occurred around 1:15 a.m. Thursday. Officers in the area reported on the local CPD radio channel that they thought they heard gunfire, and a series of 911 callers confirmed their suspicions.
Officers discovered four shell casings near the intersection of Seminary and Cornelia avenues. Some witnesses said the shots were fired by someone who was in a white SUV that was headed west on Cornelia.
Last Friday, someone fired about five shots during an argument near the corner of Roscoe and Halsted streets in Boystown around 2:30 a.m. One round crashed through the window of a nearby bar, which had closed about 30 minutes earlier. Another bullet crashed through a nearby apartment window. No injuries were reported.
Police at the scene said the gunman fled in a white GMC Yukon that headed down Roscoe and turned into an alley.
Then, people were shot on Wrigleyville’s bar strip on both Saturday and Sunday.
First, a 27-year-old man was shot during an argument outside a bar in the 3400 block of North Clark around 1:53 a.m. Saturday. The victim was struck in his right thigh, and police said he was in good condition after the shooting.
Then, around 3 a.m. Sunday, a 43-year-old man arrived at Ascension Resurrection Hospital with a gunshot wound to his left leg that he said he received about 30 minutes earlier in the 3500 block of North Clark, according to CPD. That’s right around the time 911 callers reported that someone had fired a shot into a nearby Italian beef restaurant. Cops initially believed the restaurant incident was simply someone hitting a window with a rock.
So far this year, 12 people have been shot in Lakeview, according to CPD records. That’s up from five at this point last year, eight in 2020, and four as of 2019.
One of those victims was shot at Halsted and Roscoe streets in Boystown on June 13. Charges have been filed in that case. It was the first shooting on the Halsted Street bar strip since at least 2001, which is as far back as the city’s public records go.
Before this year, the most recent shooting or murder in the Wrigleyville nightlife district was on September 12, 2016.
This year, there has been one murder by assault, one person murdered by gunfire, and two non-fatal shootings in the 3400 and 3500 blocks of North Clark.
On March 27, Hermilo Beltran was shot and killed by robbers as he reported for work at Happy Camper, 3458 North Clark. Police are still trying to find the killers.
On January 17, a California man, Sergio Ontiveros, was killed in a physical assault on the street in the 3500 block of North Clark.
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