Chicago Unending Negro Violence - Shootings On Lake Shore Drive, On the Eisenhower Expressway and On the Surface Streets

After eating dinner at a Peruvian restaurant in Logan Square, Jorge Govea walked up to his work van and thought someone had broken in to take his tools.

But he soon realized his car had been caught in the middle of gunfire that wounded three men Thursday night.

“I saw the hole in the window, then there was a hole in the seat and (damage) to the window in the front by the driver’s side,” Govea said. “I was lucky I wasn’t in my car.”

Police say the shots were fired around 9:30 p.m. in the 2600 block of West Fullerton Avenue.  An 18-year-old man and a 24-year-old man were walking on the sidewalk when someone in a white van began shooting at them, according to police.

The younger man was hit in the right arm and in the chest. His condition was stabilized at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center. The older man was shot in the left arm and went to Presence Saints Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center, where his condition was stabilized.

A 42-year-old man who was driving by also was shot. He was hit in the back, and his condition was stabilized at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.

Neighbors watched as officers searched for evidence on Fullerton between Rockwell Street and Talman Avenue. Shell casings were scattered on the sidewalk and the road. At least three vehicles, including Govea’s van, were damaged by the gunfire.

A man who asked not to be identified said he was in a bar when the shooting happened.  “I heard boom, boom,” he said. “I thought it was fireworks. Then I look and I hear boom, boom, boom, boom. More. ”

The man said he saw a vehicle make a U-turn. A man walked down the street, then “took off” once he got around the corner, the witness said.

Less than two miles away, officers guarded a cab in the 3200 block of West Fullerton that was apparently part of the shooting.

No one was reported in custody.

The three men were among 11 people shot, one fatally, in Chicago from late Thursday morning through early Friday, according to police.

The fatal shooting happened about 6:40 p.m. Thursday in the 3500 block of West Polk Street in the Homan Square neighborhood, police said. Officers found a 41-year-old man unresponsive with multiple gunshot wounds. Police did not release any further details.

Other shootings:

* A person told Illinois State Police he was shot in the leg about 1:35 a.m. Friday on the Eisenhower Expressway westbound exit ramp to Kostner Avenue. The male, age unknown, was treated and released from Stroger Hospital. Troopers searched the expressway but didn't find any shell casings.

* About 1:25 a.m., a 41-year-old man was critically injured in a shooting on Lake Shore Drive, police said. Officers responded to a call of a person shot and found the man with a gunshot wound to his face. He was found in the driver's seat of a white van in the northbound lanes of Lake Shore Drive near Grand Avenue. The man was listed in critical condition at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Police blocked off the northbound lanes near Monroe Drive early Friday as officers searched for evidence.

* About 4 p.m. Thursday, a 30-year-old man was seriously wounded in a shooting at a gas station in the East Chatham neighborhood, police said. The man suffered gunshot wounds to the chest in the attack in the 8300 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue, said Officer Thomas Sweeney, a police spokesman. The man was involved in a fight that ended with someone else firing shots, Sweeney said. The man was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in serious condition.

* Just after 2:50 p.m. in the Englewood neighborhood, a 28-year-old man was shot in the right leg while he was walking north in the 7200 block of South Emerald Avenue, police said. A green van drove up to the man and someone inside fired several times, hitting him before driving south on Emerald. He went to St. Bernard Hospital and was transferred to Mount Sinai Hospital after his condition was stabilized, police said.

* Just before 2:50 p.m. Thursday, a 14-year-old boy was shot in the Austin neighborhood, according to police. The boy was in the 200 block of South Lotus Avenue when he was shot in the right arm and right leg, according to police. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition.

The boy was standing outside when someone he didn’t know came up and fired shots before running to a vehicle and escaping, according to police.

*  About 11:50 a.m., two men ages 19 and 29 were shot in the 3300 block of West Douglas Boulevard in the Lawndale neighborhood, according to police. The 19-year-old suffered a gunshot wound to the torso, and the older man suffered a gunshot wound to the leg, according to police. Both were taken to Stroger Hospital, where their conditions were stabilized. The men were on the street when someone in an SUV fired shots, hitting them, Sweeney said.