Romantic rivals agreed to a fistfight, but one brought (and used) a gun, prosecutors say

Gabriel Blakemore (Chicago Police Department, Multiplottr)

CHICAGO — Two men who were dating the same woman agreed to settle their differences by meeting for a fistfight—a plan that went sideways when one of them showed up with a gun, officials say. Now, one of the men, 46-year-old Gabriel Blakemore, faces attempted murder charges.

Judge Shauna Boliker detained Blakemore, saying he “brought a gun to a fistfight” and “blindsided” the other man “with the intention of shooting and taking his life.”

Prosecutors said Blakemore and a 33-year-old Oak Park man arranged to fight in the first block of North Leclaire on the night of September 1. But, when the victim arrived, he heard someone say that Blakemore brought a gun, according to allegations made in court filings.

According to a Chicago police report, Blakemore shot the other man multiple times while the victim was sitting in his car, striking him in the stomach, right thigh, and right foot.

“He came to a fistfight with a gun and simply opened fire on the [victim] who believed a fistfight was to ensue, not [an] ambush and a shooting,” Boliker wrote in a detention petition. 

The victim was seriously injured, but survived.

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