LINCOLN SQUARE — Three people were in custody following a shooting and police chase that ended with a crash Tuesday night in Lincoln Square.
At 8:35 p.m., someone in a passing car fired shots at a 43-year-old man in the 3300 block of West Armitage Avenue, police said. The man was hit in his torso and taken to Illinois Masonic Hospital in critical condition.
Officers chased after the car and, during the chase, someone inside the fleeing car fired shots, police said.
The driver eventually crashed at a bus stop in the 4400 block of North Western Avenue. Officers took the three people inside the car into custody and recovered a handgun.
During the chase, the driver fleeing police crashed into the vehicle Carolyn Byerly Dean was driving at the intersection of Montrose and Western avenues.
Dean, who helps run the Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America’s Lincoln Square chapter, had her daughter in the back seat and said the suspect’s car ran a red light before crashing into her.
Dean and her 9-year-old daughter were shaken but escaped serious injury, she said. She saw the speeding car coming.
“I caught the movement out of the corner of my eye. I hit the brakes,” Dean said. “He hit the front of my car, otherwise it would have hit the middle of my car where we were sitting. He must have wanted to avoid hitting the oncoming stopped traffic so he swerved into the pole.”
After hitting her car the suspect’s car slammed into the street light and veered into the corner of the Albany Bank & Trust building where it came to a stop.
“After the crash the police immediately swarmed; lights, police everywhere. I thought they were going to start shooting,” she said. “It was unbelievable.”
Dean said the incident made her even more engaged in the fight to end gun violence. Moms Demand Action is a national volunteer group founded the day after the Sandy Hook shooting. They advocate for stronger gun laws and policies that will reduce gun violence.
“We shouldn’t have to live like this,” she said. “We should be able to drive our children home without fear of getting shot.”
The nonpartisan group supports the Second Amendment, but also works to to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people and create a culture of responsible gun ownership
“To be caught up in this is so hard to process,” Dean said. “It’s going to take all of us contacting our elected officials to change something.”
Area North Detectives are investigating.
Subscribe to Block Club Chicago. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicago’s neighborhoods.
Already subscribe? Click here to support Block Club with a tax-deductible donation.