CHICAGO — The man shot on a busy Lincoln Park street last week died on Monday afternoon, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office, which identified the victim as Alexander Nesteruk, 34, of Wheaton.
Witnesses said Nesteruk was confronting people and getting into their faces on the sidewalk in the 2400 block of North Clark around 3:58 p.m. last Wednesday, November 27. At some point, an “altercation” broke out, and another man pulled out a gun and shot Nesteruk in the chest, according to Chicago police. The gunman fled south on Clark Street on foot.
“There is reason to believe this is an isolated incident wherein the victim and offender had a preexisting relationship,” Ald. Timmy Knudsen (43rd) said in an email to constituents after the shooting, adding that the case is still under investigation.
“According to initial reports, the victim was exhibiting erratic and dangerous behavior at the time of the shooting and engaged with the offender aggressively before the incident,” said Knudsen.
Unless officials decide the gunman acted in self-defense, Nesteruk will be Lincoln Park’s first murder victim of 2024.
In January, the medical examiner ruled that a 43-year-old man was found dead in an apartment in the 500 block of West Deming died in a homicide from asphyxiation and assault. However, the Chicago Police Department no longer lists the incident as a criminal act. Detectives questioned the man who called 911 from the apartment, but he was never charged with any wrongdoing.
The most recent murder in Lincoln Park before this year was on October 16, 2022, at the J. Parker Rooftop Lounge at Hotel Lincoln, 1816 North Clark. Prosecutors have charged 28-year-old Parrish Jefferson with the shooting. He is on electronic monitoring awaiting trial.
