Ear Hustle

Chicago Shootings Leaves 3 Dead and 6 Wounded

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photo credit: John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune

Three men have been shot to death on the West Side since mid-afternoon Wednesday, including one who a witness said was shot in a high-rise workout room, police said.

In addition to those killed, at least six other people have been wounded in shootings in Chicago since midmorning Wednesday, according to police.

About 7:05 p.m., a 45-year-old man was shot multiple times in the 500 block of West Kinzie Street in the Fulton River District on the Near West Side, police said. He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the head and was pronounced dead there.

A witness said the victim was shot in a gym on the eighth floor of the residential high-rise following a dispute.

Aaron Snyder, a resident of the high-rise, said he was working out in the gym when he heard a loud bang, followed by another.

There “was only one way out, and the shot came from that way, so I just ran outside on the pool deck,” Snyder said. “I didn’t know what it was, but I saw a bunch of people sprinting so I thought it was probably a good idea to keep running.”

Snyder called 911, and he about a dozen others hid behind bushes in an outdoor area on the floor.

Earlier, two men had gotten into an argument in the gym.

“The guy (in a wheelchair) yelled at him to stop flirting with his girlfriend over and over again,” Snyder said.

“I thought he was being sarcastic, but he wasn’t. They got into a screaming match. The guy just hung around him staring at him on the treadmill.”

One resident, who asked not to be named because he witnessed part of the attack, said he was playing basketball when the argument took place. As he was leaving the gym he held the door open for one of the men, who was in a wheelchair, to go back into the gym after he left for a short time.

“I heard one shot then I turned, and I saw (the victim) fall,” the resident said. “He was on the (elliptical) machine. After, he (the gunman) rolled right past me. I didn’t know what to do. I mean, dude had a gun.”

In the aftermath, the victim had a gunshot wound to the head and was struggling to breathe as a staff member hid under a desk and residents scrambled to hide, according to the resident.

“I was just screaming ‘Can anybody help?'” said the resident, who left to stay at a friend’s place while police search for the suspect.

Police gathered behind the front desk in the lobby to review surveillance footage and interview witnesses, including one woman who was escorted away by an officer.

Earlier, about 4:30 p.m., a 32-year-old man was shot to death in the 3600 block of West Division Street in the Humboldt Park neighborhood, said Officer Thomas Sweeney, a police spokesman. At least two attackers entered a business and fired shots before fleeing, leaving the man with multiple gunshot wounds.

The man, who was a known gang member, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The man died in the store slumped face-down against a counter wearing a white jacket. Police closed off the area in front of the store.

Neighbors gathered on the corner of Lawndale Avenue and Division Street. At one point, a man ran to the scene and ducked under police tape before police pushed him back, asking him to let them do their jobs.

Earlier, a man was shot to death outside on a commercial block in the Austin neighborhood, police said. The 22-year-old man was shot around 1:55 p.m. in the 300 block of North Central Avenue and pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

According to police, the man was walking on the block when someone approached him and shot him multiple times.

The homicide happened not long before nearby schools let out, and the man was killed on a city Safe Passage route, so workers in fluorescent vests stood back watching the scene with a few dozen other curious onlookers.

Police closed Central in both directions, and when it came time to load the body into a squadrol, they positioned cars around the body so people would have a hard time seeing.

Central just south of the Green Line, where the shooting took place, is lined for about a block with stores — the Shoe Shine King, in front of which the victim fell — a couple grocery stores and a clothing store.

The crowd occasionally jeered police, who didn’t respond. A couple separated from the crowd to mourn alone in a nearby parking lot.

At 3:09 p.m., a 27-year-old man was shot on the 4100 block of West North Avenue, police said. The man was shot in the head, but his condition had stabilized at Mount Sinai Hospital, police said. The man is a documented gang member, police said.

In the Woodlawn neighborhood just after 2 p.m., a man and woman were wounded in a shooting in the 6400 block of South Eggleston Avenue, police said.

The woman, 38, was shot in the leg and abdomen, and went to St. Bernard Hospital and Healthcare Center before being transferred to Stroger Hospital, where her condition had stabilized. The man, 20, went to St. Bernard Hospital, where his condition was stabilized as he was treated for a gunshot wound to the shoulder.

A 28-year-old man, Nicholas Robinson, was shot to death in the same block on Feb. 22.

Earlier, about 12:30 p.m., a 21-year-old man was shot in the 9400 block of South Stony Island Avenue, police said. He was taken to a hospital with a gunshot wound to the buttocks.

In the morning, two men were wounded about the same time a few blocks apart in what police said appear to be unrelated shootings.

One man, in his 30s, showed up at West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park about 10:40 a.m. with a gunshot wound to his thigh. He told police he was shot near Harrison Street and Cicero Avenue.

About the same time, a 28-year-old showed up at Mount Sinai Hospital with a gunshot wound to the hand. He told police he was shot in the 4300 block of West Van Buren Street.

Both men were in good condition.

Source: Chicago Tribune

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