Six men and two women who had been using a party bus service were shot late Wednesday near a gas station in the Old Town Triangle neighborhood on the North Side, according to Chicago police. The shooting was at least the third with five or more victims in about six hours.
About 6 p.m., police were called to separate shootings 10 minutes apart, both in North Lawndale, one of which left a 14-year-old boy dead and a 16-year-old gravely wounded. Five people were shot at each site. Between 5:40 p.m. Wednesday and 1:40 a.m. Thursday, 27 people were shot, including three who died of their injuries, according to police statistics.
The spate of high-profile attacks came just days after police Superintendent David Brown announced a new 50-person team dedicated to firearm investigations, separate from a federal strategy unveiled by President Joe Biden’s administration.
Brown addressed the ongoing violence during a late-morning news conference along with Deputy Chief Brendan Deenihan, who heads the detective division, providing an update on the mass shooting investigations. They said those injured in the party bus shooting, specifically, were targeted when the bus stopped at a gas station for riders to use a restroom.
Brown said many of the victims have so far been uncooperative with detectives.
“We as police officers have to stand guard in these communities when they have these types of incidents where it’s targeted,” he said. “People are not cooperating who are victims, which signals to us, ‘We want revenge and we don’t want police solving this case, because we want revenge, we want to retaliate. We don’t want you taking them to jail.’ That signals to us, when you don’t cooperate, when you’re silent, that you prefer street justice. And I will just say this, street justice is never-ending. The appetite for revenge is never satisfied, it only harms, it only ruins your community.”
Officers were called to the 1600 block of North LaSalle Drive minutes before midnight to investigate the party bus shooting. Investigators said it wasn’t immediately clear whether those who were shot had been on the party bus or standing outside.
A dark gray Jeep Grand Cherokee approached the group and someone inside began shooting. Police said a black Grand Cherokee also was involved, but a description of the shooters was not released.
Authorities initially located four victims, but that number doubled as they continued investigating, police said.
Those injured were:
- A man, 27, was shot in the chest and he was dropped off at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he had been in critical condition.
- A 23-year-old man was shot in the groin and he was in serious condition at Northwestern.
- A woman, 26, was shot in the leg and she was taken to Northwestern in fair condition.
- A 24-year-old man was shot in the arm and he was in fair condition at Northwestern.
- A man, 42, was shot in the leg and he was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in fair condition.
- A 52-year-old man was taken in fair condition to Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
- A man, 29, was shot in the arm and dropped off at Rush University Medical Center. He later was transferred to Stroger Hospital, where he was in fair condition.
- A woman, 26, was dropped off at Jackson Park Hospital with a gunshot wound to the hand and she was listed in good condition.
The 42-year-old and 52-year-old men are employees of the party bus company, Brown said.
Investigators said they are hopeful they will get cooperation from people such as those two employees. They are also reviewing private surveillance as well as city surveillance cameras and asking for help from the community.
“We are in a battle for the heart and soul of some of our communities and now is the time to speak up,” Brown said. “We’re much more effective when the community speaks up and gives us information.”
Brown was joined by Pastor James Brooks from Harmony Community Church in North Lawndale, who said he lives in the community he serves and knows the people giving the area a bad reputation are in the minority, comments Brown agreed with.
“We have to be relentless .... We are not going to ever quit on this community. We believe in the people of Chicago,” Brown said, adding that he does not want to paint everyone with a broad brush. “I’m calling out this element of the community that wreaks havoc, they terrorize people.”
Along with the 14-year-old who was killed in one of the two North Lawndale attacks, two other men were killed in an unrelated shooting about 9 p.m. in the Near West Side neighborhood, police said. None of the three had been identified by the Cook County medical examiner’s office as of Thursday morning.
The two men were standing in the first block of North Western Avenue when a red Honda SUV drove past and someone inside the vehicle started shooting at the men, 31 and 28, police said.
The 28-year-old was shot in the head, arm and foot. The 31-year-old also was shot, but police did not have additional information about his injuries; both were taken by paramedics to Stroger Hospital, where they were pronounced dead, officials said.
Check back for updates.
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