Saturday, December 10, 2011

More Violence Friday Night, Four Shot

The scene shortly after the shooting, from a contributor to our Facebook page
If you haven't seen the nightly news or read our Facebook page, you may not have heard, but Uptown's gang war escalated (again) on Friday night.

Just before 6pm, many readers reported hearing between 10 and 30 shots fired at Wilson and Sheridan.  According to WBBM780, a small red car drove east on Wilson, made a right onto Sheridan, and those within the car shot four men who were on the sidewalk in the general vicinity of Uptown Baptist Church.

According to the Tribune's story:  "A 21-year-old man suffered several gunshot wounds and was being treated at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, as was a 20-year-old who was shot in the back and side, said News Affairs Officer Daniel O'Brien. An 18-year-old shot in the thigh and a 35-year-old shot in the finger, toe and thigh were being treated at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston." At least one of them is still in critical condition.

A reader writes in:  "I just witnessed it and wanted to share.  I was just on the 151 bus northbound approaching the Wilson stop when there were several gunshots from a car heading south, which then cut in front of our bus and sped away southbound on the opposite sidewalk.  The bus then waited there for a few minutes as cars were stopping, and we could see a guy lying on the other side of the street with people crouching around him.  I hope he's okay but I fear the worst, as there were a lot of shots."

As of 9pm, Sheridan was still taped off and closed to traffic between Wilson and Sunnyside with a bunch of squad cars and cops on the scene.  Buses and other traffic was being rerouted.

As of 10pm, a police helicopter with a bright searchlight was circling around Lawrence and Sheridan (and the surrounding areas) for quite a while.

For someone who makes a living with words, I don't have many now.  Just like you, we at UU are so very sick and tired of this idiotic war that is being played out on our streets by young men who have weapons, but no impulse control; who have been taught to hate and kill people who wear different colors than they do; who are dying before they reach adulthood; and all for the supposed "ownership" of land that will never be associated with their names in any public records.  We are sick of what it is doing to Uptown's businesses, to Uptown's reputation, and to residents' sense of security and safety.

We are just so very tired of it all.

9 comments:

  1. But crime statistics are DOWN and it's safe to DOWNsize our police department...
    Rahm and Garry McCarthy said so!

    Right?

    So it must be true.

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  2. I've pretty much run out of emotional reactions to incidents like these. These sub-human knuckleheads will only be stopped in one of two ways--(1) being arrested and sent to jail, or (2) they themselves being shot. All our handwringing is clearly a waste of time.

    It's sad but true. I just hope they don't hit any more innocent bystanders, anyone I know or me.

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  3. GMGXU - The sad part about it that Option 2 may be the only way for it to stop. That or our criminal justice system be changed. I would guess a majority of these people doing the shooting have been locked up in the past. The police can only do that part of the job. The rest is up to people to testify and hope the justice system works. Even that then only goes so far as they often are released from prison in what i would consider a short ammount of time. It's truly unreal what has been going on over the last few weeks. There is no way that this past year has not been the worst in uptown for quite some time.

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  4. Bubba, I completely agree with you. I've lived in Uptown for the past six years and used to tell people that I loved living here because I never felt unsafe. The events that have transpired in the past few months--shootings at playgrounds, the Wilson stop, the thrift store, Wilson/Sheridan, and that hostage situation the other night have changed my mind. I don't know a lot about how to fix it, but it seems like the previous comment about more of a police presence would be a start. It's so sad.

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  5. My boyfriend was a block away on Sheridan and Sunnyside when the shots were fired. About 20 of them in rapid succession, according to him. This is the closest we've come thus far to the violence in this neighborhood. When we moved in, we knew we'd have to be careful, and there's definitely been an escalation in the number of incidences. But you can't predict a drive-by... If my boyfriend had been any closer when those shots had gone off, who knows what could have happened. It frightens me that I could lose the people I love to these careless criminals.

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  6. There are plenty of cops patrolling our Uptown streets. I see them everywhere, all the time. Everyone seems to know who (and what) the thugs are, but no one dares do anything. Not the police, not the aldermen and not the citizens. That is the real crime, if you ask me.

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  7. I suppose the cops need probably cause to arrest these criminals. Seeing them on the street is not enough.
    This past summer, I saw a young man on a bicycle suddenly get anxious to cross Montrose on the corner of Montrose and Broadway, and he did so despite the fact that traffic was moving on Montrose.
    Two cops in a police car saw him and stared at him, obviously recognizing a known criminal, but they moved on. Seconds later, the guy reached his goal: he delivered a small packet to a young woman on Broadway, just about where AT&T is. Then the guy rode off.
    My amazement at what I saw must have shown on my face, because as the woman walked past me on Broadway, she pretended to cough into a tissue, while she has actually holding the packet with white stuff given to her by the guy on a bike rather than a tissue.
    This is why they kill to protect their turf. They think they own our streets. It's time we root these vermin out of the public housing that we help pay for.

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  8. I was on the 148 bus on Wilson just before Broadway when the shots rang out. You've never seen a bus full of people hit the floor so fast. I have more than one way to get to and from work, and I guarantee you it's going to be a long while before I get on a 148 bus again. The violence is too much, it has got to stop.

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  9. I work out of my house but have federal jury duty last week and this. I am scared out of my mind to take the Wilson L but it's simply not affordable to park by the Federal Building or cab both directions while not making money. It's bad enough as it is I don't feel safe enough to take the L when I go out b/c of the shootings in front of my condo and on Sheridan and Wilson. Yet my taxes have TRIPLED IN three years. WHat a travesty.

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