CHICAGO — A security guard was shot during a gunfight with carjackers in downtown Chicago overnight, police say. It happened outside the Chicago Board of Trade building.
The victim, 44, was heading to his Dodge Challenger when a carload of carjackers pulled up in the 100 block of West Van Buren around 4 a.m. Four masked offenders, including one armed with a rifle, exited the car and tried to carjack the victim.
Police said the victim suffered a gunshot wound to his hip during an exchange of gunfire with the carjackers. Investigators found six casings from rifle rounds and six casings from a handgun at the scene.
EMS took the victim to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in critical condition. The hijackers, who did not get the guard’s vehicle, escaped in a black Dodge SUV, police said.
An officer at the scene said the guard believed he shot one of the carjackers. The police were checking with hospitals to see if anyone showed up with mysterious gunshot wounds. In fact, a 29-year-old man walked into Mt. Sinai Hospital shortly after the shooting with a gunshot wound to his back. He was uncooperative with the police, who said he is in critical condition, but it is not known if his injuries are related to the Loop shooting.
The victim is the 12th person shot in the Loop this year. That’s down from 25 at this point last year, which included nine victims shot in two separate mass shootings that officials linked to a nightclub in the 400 block of South Wells.
The Loop had 18 people shot at this point in 2021, eleven in 2020, and four as of this date in 2019.