A 21-year-old Indiana man was killed when a gunman armed with an illegally modified pistol opened fire during a stunt driving “sideshow” in the Ford City Mall parking lot early Saturday, according to Chicago police and videos posted on social media.
Martin Isaac Cantu Murillo, of South Bend, was standing outside in the 7600 block of South Cicero Avenue around 2:50 a.m. when someone began firing and struck him in the head, police said. The gunman fled the scene in a red SUV. CPD has not revealed a motive for the shooting, and no arrests have been reported.
An officer who responded to the scene counted 25 shell casings scattered across the parking lot, according to preliminary information.
Videos shared online show dozens of people gathered near the Ross store at Ford City Mall as drivers performed donuts and other stunt-driving maneuvers in the parking lot. The footage captures the sound of rapid gunfire erupting as people scramble for cover.
One video shows the gunman, dressed entirely in black with a hood pulled over his head, firing bursts from a fully automatic weapon. The rate of fire heard in the recordings is consistent with a pistol equipped with an illegal conversion device, commonly known as a “switch,” which allows a semiautomatic handgun to fire continuously with a single pull of the trigger.
The murder is the latest in a long list of problems linked to so-called “sideshows,” informal gatherings where drivers perform stunts in streets and parking lots while spectators watch. Such events have drawn large crowds across Chicago in recent years and have frequently required police intervention due to reckless driving, property damage, and violence.
