Chicago police are investigating after a man was shot and killed during an argument in River North early on the Fourth of July. The incident appears to be domestic-related.
Police said the man was arguing with a 37-year-old woman in the 600 block of North Dearborn when the fight turned physical around 12:25 a.m.
At that point, the woman pulled out a firearm and shot the 49-year-old man at least twice in the chest, police said. He was pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Police took the woman into custody.
The shooting occurred inside or directly next to a van parked outside a convenience store on the east side of Dearborn Street. Red crime scene tape was draped around the van as police officers took photographs and recovered evidence inside the vehicle.
One cop said several shell casings and the gun and ammunition magazine were found inside the van.
The man is the first person murdered in River North this year and the tenth person shot. There were 16 shooting victims, including two murders, at this point last year. In 2021, the area had eight shooting victims, none fatal, as of Independence Day.
Other recent shootings in River North include:
- A man was shot and critically injured in the 300 block of West Ontario around 1:30 a.m. on July 1. Investigators found 20 shell casings and a bloody firearm in a surface parking lot on the corner of Franklin and Ontario streets. One car had several bullet holes in it.
- On June 17, dozens of shots were fired during a shocking daytime ambush that left a man critically injured just a block away from this morning’s shooting. Surveillance video showed the victim walking down the 300 block of West Erie as a group of men stepped out of a vehicle to ambush him around 6:30 p.m. The footage showed one of the gunmen chasing the victim down the street with a large firearm extended toward the victim. The area’s alderman linked that crime to a nearby club.
- An off-duty Michigan police officer accidentally shot himself and another person while handling his firearm inside their room at Hotel Chicago Downtown, 333 North Dearborn, on May 27. No charges were filed.
On May 14, three people were shot in the Hubbard Street nightlife district. At the time, CPD said the victims were on the sidewalk near 6 West Hubbard when the occupants of two vehicles began shooting at each other, striking the bystanders. Officers at the scene said at least one gunman fired from a black tow truck that fled north on State Street after the shooting. A witness who spoke with CWBChicago said both gunmen were in tow trucks.
But CWBChicago has subsequently learned that investigators began to suspect that at least one of the victims was targeted. A source, citing early information, said two tow trucks acted as shields for the gunman, who fired from a third tow truck, striking the victims. A passerby captured video of the scene just moments after the trucks sped from the area.
No arrests have been announced.
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