Shooting In Uptown, Chicago Injures Two (Updated)

SHOTS FIRED, WILSON RED LINE CHICAGO... June 27, 2010 - 11:55 p.m. - At least two people were struck by flying bullets at approximately 9:25 p.m. tonight in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood.


Four shots, perhaps five, were heard at that time as thousands of Gay Pride post-parade partiers were walking through the intersection of W. Wilson and N. Broadway. A suspect was taken into custody at approximately 9:55 p.m. (Photos at "Slideshow - Shooting At Wilson and Broadway, Chicago, June 27")



Police and paramedics arrived rapidly and were tending to one of the victims in the intersection of Wilson and Broadway by 9:32 p.m. Witnesses told Chicago News Bench at the scene that one of the victims was “grazed” by a bullet one block east of the intersection, at the southwest corner of N. Kenmore and W. Wilson.

Update from FoxNews, June 28: "A Police News Affairs release early Monday said two men -- 47 and 25 -- were struck by gunfire and taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.... The younger man was in 'stable' condition with a gunshot wound to his shoulder and the other man was shot in the abdomen and was in serious condition, the release said." The man with the shoulder wound is the one that we reported above last night as having been "grazed." He was hit while he was in front of Beauty House, 1041 West Wilson Avenue (second photo, above). The rest of the Fox report pretty much repeats what Chicago News Bench published late last night.

Witnesses initially told Chicago News Bench that a “dark skinned black guy,” who was “wearing red shorts and no shirt” was shooting people inside of the CTA station. One of the witnesses who spoke to us said that the suspect was “shouting anti-gay stuff.” It was immediately obvious that this was not true, however, as there was no yellow police crime scene tape put up at the station. It was soon confirmed that the suspect taken into custody was, in fact, dressed in the manner described.



We spotted at least three spent shell casings in front of City Sports, on the northeast corner of the intersection. This was eerily reminiscent of the February 25 shooting at the same corner, when two gunmen fired at least five shots across the street. One bullet hit a woman as she waited for a bus under the elevated train tracks. Shell casings were left in the exact same spot as in tonight’s shooting. For more coverage, see Pride 

Weekend Ends Violently In Uptown (LakeEffectNews; site now defunct). 


Earlier today, more than 10,000 people were partying in Lincoln Park, just north of Montrose Harbor. As many of them headed toward the Wilson CTA Red Line train station, shots rang out. We cannot help but notice that this highlights the futility of “positive loitering” as a way to deter crime.


There were literally, in fact, thousands of people walking along the street as they headed home from the park. The train station was crowded. Despite this extraordinarily heavy presence of law abiding people, a man went berserk and fired into the crowd. The neighborhood’s “positive loiterers,” by the way, were once again AWOL.

In related news, a bar employee was tasered at 10:53 p.m. by Chicago Police at the intersection of W. Roscoe and N. Halsted. The Gay Pride Parade passed through that intersection earlier today. That neighborhood, known as “Boys Town,” is tonight very busy with a lot of very drunk and prideful partiers. (Source: Chicago Police dispatch for districts 19 and 23.)