CHICAGO — Crime scene was draped across the entrance of a downtown Chicago hotel Friday night after a man shot nearby ran inside and collapsed in the lobby. The 40-year-old victim was pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Police responded to the Virgin Hotel, 203 North Wabash, around 11:40 p.m. after a Chicago Fire Department unit handling a call of a man with breathing difficulties in the lobby realized that he had been shot.
Investigators determined that the shooting occurred around the corner near the entrance to a parking garage at 60 East Lake Street. According to CPD, the man was on the sidewalk when shots were fired around 11:29 p.m. One round struck the man in the abdomen, and he ran into the Virgin Hotel, then collapsed, according to police.
Officials have not publicly identified the victim, but CWBChicago has learned that he has a lengthy arrest history, including one for assault at the Virgin Hotel in October.
Crime scene is at 53 East Lake in front of the 711. One bullet went into the Billy Goat Tavern. pic.twitter.com/oIE9sRHYYn
— Andrew Moy (@andymoychicago) July 22, 2023
In 2019, he was arrested in River North after he chased and stabbed a man following an argument near State and Illinois streets. He received a three-year prison sentence for that case in April 2021, according to court records.
He was charged in January 2018 with slashing an off-duty DuPage County sheriff’s deputy working as security at the Greyhound terminal, 630 West Harrison. He received a 14-month prison sentence for that.
He is the tenth person shot in the Loop this year, down sharply from the 22 victims seen as of July 22 last year. There were 15 victims as of this date in 2021; eight in 2020; and four in 2019.
Four of last year’s victims were shot during a single incident in the 400 block of South Wells, and one was shot by Chicago police officers after he allegedly opened fire on them.
Before Friday, the most recent shooting in the Loop occurred near the State-Van Buren L station on May 31. Chicago police said a 31-year-old concealed carry holder pulled a gun and accidentally shot himself in the leg during an argument. He then shot a 30-year-old man in the hand and fled the scene in a vehicle. Both survived.
A Chicago police media statement referred to the concealed carry holder as the “victim” and the other man as the “offender,” but police did not say what the concealed carry holder was a victim of.