- Credibility:
WICKER PARK — A 21-year-old man is facing battery and gun charges after authorities say he fired several shots into The Point on Milwaukee Avenue earlier this month, seriously wounding a 29-year-old man.
Daveon Montgomery was arrested Feb. 10 and charged with aggravated battery and aggravated discharge of a weapon into an occupied building, according to police and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. Montgomery is being held without bond, according to the Cook County Sheriff Office.
Police said Montgomery “fired into” The Point, 1565 N. Milwaukee Ave., around 5 a.m. Feb. 6, a few minutes after the bar had closed for the night.
A 29-year-old man who was inside the bar “heard shots outside and felt pain,” police said. According to the Sun-Times, which obtained an internal police report, someone opened fire from across the street, firing at least 10 shots into the bar. Officers found the 29-year-old bleeding on the floor of the club, the Sun-Times reported.
The victim was taken to Stroger Hospital with a gunshot wound to his right eye, police said. He was listed in serious condition.
The shooting is the second associated with The Point in the last five months. One person was killed and four others were wounded Oct. 10 in a shooting outside the bar.
Police at the time said the shooting stemmed from a fight inside The Point, but bar owner Jun Lin disputed that, saying he’d called 911 several times to get help with rowdiness on the street before the shooting occurred.
Lin told Block Club last week he’s since increased security at the bar and has staff diligently checking IDs at the door.
“We’re doing everything we can in terms of being a business. We were simply victimized twice with shootings. That’s violence in Chicago. I don’t think the answer is to my close business, when we haven’t done anything wrong,” he said.
But police Supt. David Brown shut down The Point Feb. 8, reasoning that the bar was a “public safety threat,” according to a notice posted on the bar’s door.
The notice states Lin can request a hearing “before the mayor to determine whether a public safety threat occurred.”
If the owner fails to request a hearing, the business could stay closed for up to six months, the notice reads.
Lin did not respond to requests for comment Monday about whether he would appeal the closure.
Credit: Mina Bloom/Block Club ChicagoSubscribe to Block Club Chicago, an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicago’s neighborhoods.
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