Four people were injured early Friday when multiple gunmen, including at least one wielding a rifle, opened fire along the iconic Division Street nightlife corridor, according to preliminary information collected by CWBChicago.
Chicago police officers, including more than two dozen probationary officers, were already stationed in the area when the shooting occurred around 3:48 a.m. Officers said they saw gunmen in two vehicles unleash a torrent of gunfire down Division Street before speeding away.
Police first spotted the suspected vehicles about 15 minutes earlier, around 3:31 a.m., when a gray Acura CL and a black SUV believed to be a Jeep Grand Cherokee were seen racing south on State Street from Division. An officer said the two vehicles continued circling the neighborhood for several minutes before the shooting.
As the shooting began, officers immediately radioed “shots fired” and reported that victims were down. Police began applying tourniquets and performing other lifesaving techniques to help stabilize the victims.
A Chicago police supervisor at the scene said no officers fired their weapons during the incident, and only one officer reported pointing their gun toward anyone. The supervisor said they do not believe police were the intended targets.
Officers recovered roughly 25 shell casings near Division and Dearborn Streets — about 10 from a handgun and roughly 15 from a rifle.
All four victims were preliminarily listed in good condition:
- A 45-year-old man was shot in the foot and taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital by officers in a squad car.
- A 24-year-old man, believed to be a nightclub bouncer, drove himself to the same hospital with a gunshot wound to his forearm.
- A 22-year-old woman and a 60-year-old man were taken by ambulance to Northwestern, both suffering gunshot wounds to their legs.
Investigators determined the gunmen fled south on Dearborn after the shooting and entered the expressway via the Ontario Street feeder ramp moments later.
Friday’s attack marks the second mass shooting of the year on the Near North Side.
On July 2, gunmen opened fire outside Artis Lounge at 311 West Chicago Avenue, where a rapper had hosted a record release party, in what is believed to be the deadliest mass shooting in Chicago’s history. Eighteen people were shot, four of them fatally. No arrests have been made, and Crime Stoppers is offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to charges.
So far this year, 41 people have been shot on the Near North Side, which spans the area between the lakefront, the Chicago River, and North Avenue. That’s up from 27 during the same period last year, 40 in 2023, and 65 in 2022.
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