CHICAGO — A 68-year-old man was shot and critically injured, possibly during a robbery behind his Wicker Park home, according to Chicago police and witnesses who spoke with CWBChicago. The same group of robbers may have tried to mug an undercover Chicago police officer earlier in the day.
According to the official Chicago Police Department version of events, “a male victim, 68, was near an alley when he was approached by an unknown offender who produced a handgun and shot the victim in the chest. The victim was transported to Stroger Hospital initially reported in serious condition.”
But witnesses said the gunman demanded the victim’s property and then shot the victim, possibly after the man failed to immediately comply with his robbery demands. An officer at the scene said the victim was a concealed carry holder, but initial indications are that he did not fire any shots during the confrontation.
Witnesses provided CWBChicago with conflicting descriptions of the offenders.
According to a source familiar with the investigation, the gunman and three accomplices fled the scene in a silver 2017 Hyundai Elantra that had been reported stolen from near Joliet. Police found the vehicle abandoned in a parking lot in the 1700 block of North Elston shortly after the shooting.
A Chicago police officer working an undercover narcotics investigation earlier in the day reported that he thought offenders who emerged from the same vehicle targeted him in an attempted robbery.
Six people have been shot in Bucktown and Wicker Park this year, and four of those shootings occurred during robberies.
- A man was shot during a carjacking attempt in the 2000 block of North Hoyne on July 31.
- On July 14, armed robbers entered Bucktown Food & Liquor, 1950 North Milwaukee, and ordered everyone to surrender their wallets. The men shot a store employee during the holdup.
- On June 19, a man was shot while standing next to his vehicle in the 1700 block of North Damen.
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