- Credibility:
WEST TOWN — Five people were wounded in a shooting Wednesday near the Grand-Milwaukee-Halsted intersection in West Town.
Shortly before 5 p.m., people were driving in two cars near the 800 block of North Milwaukee Avenue when someone in one car fired shots at the other, police said. The drivers continued going south past Grand Avenue toward Downtown, witnesses said.
One victim was in critical condition as of Wednesday night, while the other four were in good condition, police said.
A police spokesperson had no updates Thursday morning.
Chef Ray Garcia was working at the Maillard Tavern at the corner of Milwaukee and Grand when he heard gunfire. He said he ran outside and saw two people who had been shot near the Jewel-Osco, 370 N. DesPlaines St.
“I’ve worked in this area for a long, long time and I’ve never seen this happen,” he said. “I live on the South Side, but I never saw it happen” there.
Mike Zozulow had just started driving home from his job at Color Image printers, 461 N. Milwaukee Ave., when he heard gunfire and saw the drivers speeding past.
“I had to dive down,” he said. “At first you just think they’re firecrackers, and then all of sudden I see people going down to the ground.
“It was like a movie. It was unbelievable; you just can’t believe that something like that would happen.”
Zozulow said he saw a third driver chasing the other two involved in the shooting. He said a coworker of his was hit by a bullet shell as he was walking to the nearby Blue Line station.
“I don’t think I feel scared, but definitely going to keep my eyes open a lot more,” he said. “How do you put an end to it? I don’t know.”
Police have no offenders in custody. One of the the victims is a “possible suspect,” Chief of Patrol Brian McDermott told the Sun-Times.
Nick Doolin, whose family owns Doolin’s party supply store, 511 N. Halsted St., said he’s frustrated police have yet to arrest any of the gunmen.
“You got cameras all over the city, especially at this intersection. There are cameras everywhere, tracking all sorts of things, and to not have anything more to go on at this point … well, it seems to be par for the course lately,” he said.
Doolin said he’s never seen anything like the shooting in the neighborhood, where his family has been in business for more than 50 years.
“I can’t recall anytime we’ve had that level of violence in this area,” he said.
Subscribe to Block Club Chicago, an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicago’s neighborhoods.
Already subscribe? Click here to support Block Club with a tax-deductible donation.
