Five people were wounded Monday evening when a gunman opened fire on a group of people standing near a bus stop at a busy intersection in Uptown, police said.
They were shot at 5:57 p.m. at Sheridan and Wilson, authorities said. That corner is on a Chicago Public Schools “Safe Passage” route for schoolchildren.
Four were hospitalized in serious-to-critical condition and one was in good condition. A 21-year-old man was shot in the head and is in critical condition on life support, authorities said. Police initially reported that the man had died.
A 44-year-old man was shot in the knee and thigh. A 32-year-old man was shot in the ankle, and a 26-year-old man was shot in both arms. A 58-year-old man was shot in the hand.
The shooting happened outside the Uptown Baptist Church. Senior church pastor Michael Allen said in a tweet that about 20 gunshots were fired outside during the church’s Monday night meal for the homeless. “Blood pools at church steps. Pray for us,” Allen said on Twitter.
About 175 people were eating tacos in the church when the shots rang out, said church volunteer Bill Shoemaker. In order to keep people calm, one church official told people the loud noises were fireworks.
The shooting occurred across the street from a crowded McDonald’s restaurant. Evidence markers dotted the street near a sidewalk covered in blood and shattered glass from a damaged bus shelter.
Scott Fishman, a photographer who lives in the neighborhood, was nearby and heard the gunshots but didn’t want to get too close to the aftermath.
“I’ve lived in this neighborhood for four years. I know the difference between fireworks and gunfire … and I wasn’t going out of my way to see anyones’s brains and blood on the sidewalk,” Fishman said.
Fishman and others who live nearby said that the corner where the shooting happened, which is monitored by a police camera, is regularly occupied by gang-bangers.
No one was in custody Monday night and police could offer no information on the gunman.
Area North detectives are investigating.
—Sun-Times, Sun-Times Media Wire