WEST LOOP — After police reported a shooting happened in the West Loop Friday, officials now say the incident happened nearly five miles away in Austin.
On Friday morning, Chicago Police News Affairs reported a 22-year-old man was shot in an attempted robbery that happened in the 1500 block of West Monroe Street.
Now, police officials say there was an error in the initial reports provided to news outlets.
Police News Affairs, an office at Police Headquarters which provides information to the news media, now say the shooting happened in the 0-100 block of South Leamington Avenue — an address near the 5100 block of West Monroe Avenue — in the Austin neighborhood.
Someone in the department put the “wrong” address in the report in “error,” according to Chicago Police Officer Michael Carroll, a police spokesman.
“The information was [initially] the 5100 block of West Monroe, then changed to Leamington. Unsure where or when the numbers were transposed to 1500 block [of] Monroe,” Carroll said.
The inaccurate information was provided to news outlets across the city through the Police Department’s Media Major Incident Notifications (MINS) portal.
When a Block Club reporter called Police News Affairs for more information about the shooting Friday morning, a News Affairs spokesperson referred him back to the Media Major Incident Notifications (MINS) portal and declined to answer additional questions.
As a result of the initial report provided by police, the Sun-Times and its news wire, a service the provides news reports to other news outlets in town, also reported the shooting happened in the West Loop.
After the news reports, Skinner Park Advisory Council’s President May Toy reached out to Near West (12th) District Cmdr. Stephen Chung regarding the incident.
When Block Club has reached out to Chung in the past for more information on a shooting that happen in his district, he declined to answer questions and directed the reporter to reach out to News Affairs instead. This is consistent with police practices citywide — district commanders routinely decline to answer questions and refer reporters to News Affairs.
The initial Block Club article on the incident has been updated to reflect the most up-to-date information.