Chicago police officers patrolling the Near West Side found a man fatally shot behind the wheel of a crashed car overnight. Now, investigators are working to determine if he was targeted in a robbery or if he happened upon a group of armed “Kia Boys” who were in the process of stealing a car.
The officers found a Chevy sedan crashed in the 700 block of North Loomis around 2:45 a.m. They soon determined that the 42-year-old had been shot in the back, according to CPD.
He was taken to Stroger Hospital and later succumbed to his wounds.
A witness told police that he saw four men running from the scene after they fired shots toward the victim’s car, according to a Chicago police media statement.
Near the shooting scene, officers found a Hyundai with a broken rear-side window. Its steering column had been recently stripped, leading officers to suspect that the victim stumbled upon the auto theft in progress.
Police are also investigating an armed robbery that unfolded about 30 minutes before the shooting. The victims were in the 1700 block of West Cullerton when three men exited a white car and robbed them at gunpoint, according to a preliminary CPD report.
Armed robbery sprees have plagued many areas of the city over the past two years. The offenders frequently travel in newly stolen Kias and Hyundais, which usually sport broken rear side windows, which the thieves punch out to gain entry to the interior.
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