UPDATE #3 - Shooting at Howard El Station Mystery Deepens

THERE IS SOMETHING VERY FISHY ABOUT THIS CASE... ARE THE POLICE COVERING SOMETHING UP HERE? IF SO, WHAT AND WHY? AT 11:20 tonight (April 25, 2009), Chicago Police sent out a very, very strange press release about today's bloody incident at the Howard CTA station in Rogers Park (Chicago Police District 23). The full release: "Per Area 3, their investigation revealed the incident on the 7500 blk of N Paulina not be of a criminal nature after discovering that the M/44 subject appeared to be suffering from a medical condition and had NOT sustained a gunshot wound." WHY IS THIS FISHY? The police statement makes no sense for at least five reasons: Reason #1: Earlier, our informant reported that the "victim was shot about 7:50 p.m. and not transported to St. Francis until 9:45 p.m." CONSIDER THIS: Did it really take police and paramedics two hours to determine that this was not a gunshot wound or a criminal act? Why would they leave a man who was allegedly "suffering from a medical condition" laying on the ground for two hours before transporting him to a hospital? Reason #2: On April 16, another man left a very bloody trail for blocks, as he walked from Howard Station south to Loyola Station. According to the NHNA blog, that incident was not an attack but a homeless person "with an infected abscess wound, which ruptured and began to bleed profusely," then "made their way down Paulina to the El at Howard Street and traveled south to the Loyola Station ... where someone called 911 .... they were taken to St. Francis Hospital for medical treatment." We can probably assume that the police put that story out, since NHNA quotes a CAPS beat facilitator. CONSIDER THIS: Two such cases in a week and a half? How often do people hemorrhage large amounts of blood in the same two-square mile neighborhood? Both persons began their ordeal in a the same rough part of Rogers Park; both left a lot of blood at the Howard station; both are within the 24th Police District, whose new commander is struggling with public relations lately. Reason #3: As reported by our informant, police went to the nearby Dominicks to obtain video of what might have happened. CONSIDER THIS: If the man was only suffering a medical condition and was not the victim of an attack, why the need for the videotape? Reason #4: Our informant also told us that after police viewed the videotape, they stopped a car "about an hour later that matched a car they saw on the Dominicks videotape..." CONSIDER THIS: Why, a full hour after supposedly determining that the man's injuries were determined to "not be of a criminal nature," would the police be looking for a suspicious car? Reason #5: If the man "had NOT sustained a gunshot wound," as the police statement claims, then why was the suspicious car seen in the videotape sniffed by a dog for gunshot residue? CONSIDER THIS: If the man had not been shot, why look for gunshot residue? This is very strange indeed. Something stinks, and it smells rotten. Either the 24th District Police are unbelievably incompetent, or somebody in CPD's public affairs department is the dumbest liar in the history of Chicago. UPDATE #2 @ 10:27 PM, APRIL 26 Our informant sent more details, below in red: At approximately 7:50 this evening (Sat., April 25) a black male 30 - 40 years of age was shot at the Howard Street CTA station bus turn in Rogers Park [on N. Paulina, just south of W. Howard Street]. The station is just east of the Dominick's grocery store [main entrance is 1649 W Howard Street]. Victim was shot on Howard Street, then staggered to the bus turnaround just off of Howard. Victim was tranferred to St. Francis in Evanston in critical condition. As of 10:22 p.m., it is unknown whether or not the victim has died. Huge crime scene taking up the entire stretch of Paulina from Howard all the way to the station entrance. Victim left a very large trail of blood.... UPDATED INFO FOLLOWS: ...the crime scene was so large that Chicago police had to call in for more crime scene tape. Victim staggered along the sidewalk past businesses on the east side of Paulina, leaving massive amounts of blood in his wake. CTA does not have any cameras at the Howard Station, so the police went in to Dominicks to review their security tapes. (While doing so they caught a woman stealing bread from Dominicks.) Police put a stop on a car about an hour later [approx. 8:50 p.m.] that matched a car they saw on the Dominicks videotape, and took it to Police District 24 [near Clark and Devon] for a K-9 to sniff for gunshot residue. Victim was shot about 7:50 p.m. and not transported to St. Francis until 9:45 p.m. This confirms to me he is dead the Trib got that detail wrong. NOTE: Chicago Breaking News has a bit of a story, but with far less detail than provided here. Thanks again to our informant. NOTE: It is disturbing that recently refurbished Howard Street CTA station has no security cameras. Was that an oversight by CTA? Or were cameras deliberately not installed? RELATED: Man shot at Devon Ave. hookah lounge - Chicago Sun-Times Man Shot Outside North Side Convenience Store - CBS2 Chicago Spring Clean-up Just Around the Corner - Alderman Joe Moore, 49th Ward Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Follow ChiNewsBench on Twitter