CHICAGO — Four people were wounded in a gang-related shooting in Uptown on Saturday afternoon, according to Chicago police and law enforcement sources. The gunmen are suspected of firing shots in another part of Uptown just minutes before the shooting, but no one was injured there.
Both incidents occurred in or near four gang violence hot spots that Chicago police officers were told in July carry the “strong possibility of retaliatory shootings.”
Saturday’s shooting began around 12:28 p.m. in the 900 block of West Wilson. Witnesses reported that two men, one wearing a yellow hoodie and the other wearing a black hoodie, arrived in a Toyota RAV4 and fired shots toward a teenage boy in the area. The teen escaped injury, and the gunmen fled toward Lake Shore Drive in the SUV.
Less than five minutes later, men wearing black and yellow hoodies walked up to the intersection of Winthrop and Argyle and began shooting at bystanders.
Four people were wounded: a 26-year-old woman seated in a wheelchair suffered a gunshot wound to her face; a 28-year-old woman was struck in the shoulder and head; a 43-year-old man and a 61-year-old woman received gunshot wounds to their legs. Chicago police said the victims were all initially reported in good condition.
After the shooting, the men returned to the RAV4, which had a temporary license plate in its rear window and fled.
An officer at the scene described the gunmen as Black men who stood 5’7″ or 5’8″ tall. The one wearing a black hoodie also wore blue rubber gloves. The officer said the one wearing the yellow hoodie had a gray hoodie under it.
Police also recovered a firearm from one of the victims, according to an initial CPD report.
Eighteen people have been shot in Uptown this year, compared to 14 at this point last year and 16 as of this date in 2021. There were 14 at this time in 2020 and eleven in 2019.
Gang hot spots
In late July, Chicago police officers were warned about four North Side gang hot spots that the department had identified as being ripe for retaliatory shootings between Gangster Disciples in Rogers Park and the Wicked City faction of the Black P Stones street gang to the south.
1) Ardmore to Granville, Broadway to Sheridan
2) Morse to Juneway, Clark to Sheridan
3) Foster to Lawrence, Broadway to Sheridan
4) Montrose to Lawrence, Broadway to Clark
Saturday’s first shooting attempt in the 900 block of West Wilson was just east of the fourth area, and the mass shooting occurred within the third area.
Original reporting you’ll see nowhere else, paid for by our readers. Click here to support our work.
