Friday, June 7, 2013

Shooting Near Truman College At 8pm

A person was shot tonight near Sunnyside and Racine, around 8pm, at the southwest corner of Truman College.

Coincidentally -- or not -- this is very near the home of Tuesday's shooting victim.

Witnesses all reported hearing 15-20 shots, a ridiculous number.  One witness says there was an "older gold compact car [UU Note: another reader believes it may have been a gold minivan] speeding wrong way down Clifton, turned into the alley before Montrose going west.  Followed by a second nondescript navy or black old compact."  Another says, "Two kids fired about 10 rounds with a semiautomatic and took off on foot. I saw a white Cadillac with a blue roof leaving the vicinity right after." [UU Note: A reader says the Caddy belongs to a security guard.]

Truman College is leaving phone and text alerts for its students, and giving the address of 1224 West Sunnyside as the site of the shooting.

We heard from multiple people that Ald. Cappleman is at the scene, and he tweeted an hour ago:  "At the scene of a serious shooting on Sunnyside between Racine & Magnolia. Appears gang-related. More details to follow."

We're not gang experts, but it seems pretty clear that this was payback for Tuesday's shooting of another gang member. This is what happens when you have gangs in a neighborhood. Payback, revenge, stupidity.  It is a very limited number of people doing this, but they sure do make a lot of noise about it, don't they?

If you have information that can help the police in their investigation, please call 911 and ask that it be relayed to the officers on the scene.

The CHA has been trying to evict the family whose son, a well-known gangbanger, was shot in the leg on Tuesday.  Perhaps the two incidents this week will inspire them to try a little harder.

Update:  From the Tribune.  "A man was shot multiple times in the Sheridan Park neighborhood tonight and left in critical condition, one of at least eight people shot today across the city, officials said.

Paramedics were called to the 1200 block of West Sunnyside Avenue at 7:56 p.m. for a person shot, according to Chicago Fire Department Chief Juan Hernandez.  They took a 25-year-old man with multiple gunshot wounds in critical condition to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, said Hernandez.

The crime scene is on Sunnyside Avenue between Racine and Magnolia. Multiple shell casings and a small pool of blood could be seen in a nearby alley."

20 comments:

  1. "I saw a white Cadillac with a blue roof leaving the vicinity right after."

    That car isn't a gangbanger, it's the security guard that works the area.

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  2. The CHA needs to do a sweep of its tenants and find out who's living there that shouldn't be living at these apartments. Normally, it starts with a mom or girlfriend who lets their boyfriend/son come live with them. A lot of these girls, whether they're working or not, going to school or whatever, have boyfriends who are gang members. They girls know it....the mom knows it. Sweep the apartments....who lives there? Anybody there that should not be -- evict the whole family.

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  3. Lianna, agreed. As the article states, CHA *was* trying to evict this particular family...and I understand that a paperwork error resulted in the whole eviction being tossed out by the presiding judge. Gee, thanks.

    In the meantime, we're left with the back-and-forth gang warfare. And something that didn't come up earlier was ANOTHER shooting a half-block east on Sunnyside, where a group of bangers shot at another guy who fled down the alley between Clifton and Racine, then down the "locked" sidewalk of the Voice building. One of our neighbors was in his garage and a work crew was at his building when it happened--scared sh*tless--and one of the bullets went through a wood fence and hit the brick garage at heart level. The bullet was found flattened next to the building. If one of the people in the building was right there, there could have been innocent bystanders killed.

    I get nasty comments about my "fixation" with the fencing installed around Truman College that keeps people from walking around the southeast corner of their parking structure (we were told that it was "too dangerous" to let people walk through that way), but when your alternatives to get from home to the Wilson Station or Aldi or Target consist of a) a life-threatening walk through a gang war zone, or b) a walk twice as long and more out of the way, you appreciate other alternatives that despite the judgment of people who don't know better, let you avoid the other two.

    Just sayin'. Wish us well, and pray for our safety.

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  4. It looks like our good Ald. Cappleman is going to have his hands full this summer. I'm afraid to walk my dog past that Bermuda Triangle of crime that is Broadway/Wilson.

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  5. @ Lianna, you are 100% correct. You see it all the time, full grown men coming in and out of these places. They need to get jobs and stop abusing the system.

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  6. Any idea why this and other recent gang shooting fail to make it into the television news? I can't speak for print news, perhaps the coverage is there.

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  7. I thought there were suppose to have more Cops on foot patrol along Wilson. I mean, we know that most of the shootings happened along that stretch from Broadway to Clark along Wilson so they should always have some officers permanently posted there. Just saying.

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  8. Just moments after a ridiculous amount of gunshots, I saw a gold minivan stop at the racine and montrose intersection and two males, dressed black hoodies jumped in the side door. Someone, either in the van or the two getting into the van were yelling to hurry up. Then they sped off westbound on montrose. I called the police when I heard the gunshots, and reported seeing the minivan. I tried to get the license plate number off the van but was too far away. It all happened really fast.

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  9. Uptown appallad, I've seen a cop on foot duty marching along Clark St. between Lawrence & Montrose. He seems to be on the safer side of Uptown.

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  10. Americanlt,

    Have you considered getting some Kevlar for Mister Poochy?

    They have bulletproof book bags for schoolkids now so perhaps there is something out there for dogs.

    I'd hate to think of Mister Poochy catching a stray bullet as the two of you patrol Uptown in search of alcohol and or methadone related businesses to report here.

    Perhaps a small ballistic shield specially made for Mister Poochy.

    You can tell him he's training to be a SWAT dog to make him feel better about it.

    An Uptown without you and Mister Poochy patrolling would be like a hot weekend without a gangbanger getting shot. It just wouldn't feel right or "Uptown" enough.

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  11. I'm not saying anything negative about the Cops but the best solution is having some of the true enforcers posted there along Wilson because you know all the drugs and shootings are happening there. There isn't one time I don't drive west on Wilson and not see a drug transactio or gang members just hanging out there in groups. They are right in the open in front of the Harold's Chicken doing their transactions or right across the street in front of Trueman college. I don't know why they aren't constantly dispersed away from there! I know Cops get a lot of bad press but there is plenty of good ones who truly do their job right and these are the one who should be placed there.

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  12. Will, the primary buyers of Uptown drugs are from the shelters & SRO's. The college kids aren't buying the crack.

    Pirate, thank you for the concern. My poodle has a hard enough time with all the pit bulls around the 'hood.

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  13. Will, I politely disagree... and agree. I think it is naïve to suggest the SRO/Homeless crowd are not buyers of drugs. I have personally witnessed it more times than I care to count... many then walk over to the park across from Weiss Hospital or wander around. It is not an honest discussion to say those residents are not a major component of the drug trade in Uptown.

    However, I also think you have a point on the student population of Truman and I would like to see more coordinated drug busts at the school. I have never heard of one, and I have zero doubt there is some of that going on as well.

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    1. So very true spoken Uptown Superhero, finally a honest person speaking ("truth").

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  14. ... one last note, I also believe that the transient student population at Uplift High School is also a driver in the drug trade. Many, if not most, also travel here using the Wilson El stop. Again, I never heard of a drug bust at that high school either and that is truly astounding to me...

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  15. Truman College students? YUP. At least in name. Truman Security have privately expressed their frustration on more than one occasion about the local gang members signing up for classes at Truman so that they have student I.D.'s and the "right" to hang around on campus...and the crock is that most of Truman's security are either retired or off-duty Chicago cops. Truman just doesn't want to deal with the negative publicity that they harbor active gang members and drug dealers.

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  17. Truman College security is a joke and has been a joke for a long, long time.

    Most of the guards are old guys who couldn't move as fast as a fart if something happens. The others don't want to interrupt their conversations or get up from reading the paper.

    I was a student there recently and nothing would scare me as much as the Mens Room Surprise - when I'd walk in to take a leak and ten men would turn around, alarmed, all standing around a stall. I obviously interrupted someone's distribution. Students are buying, but so are outsiders.

    A few of us asked what was being done, but we'd hear promises and awareness and oh yes, it's being taken care of, but nothing was ever done. And the head of security there is replaced about every six months or so (as is everyone else in the CCC world).

    And as much as I'd like to say that turnstiles (which they don't have) and ID's or scan cards (which the guards have a very inconsistent history of checking) would help, I'm not even sure that is the case, because some of the gang members are enrolled as students in either the Middle College or the college itself.

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  18. Joey. What the what. Your like Sheldon Cooper without any morality.

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  19. Saw 2 get led away in handcuffs from the Broncho Billy park on Tuesday night. Doubt it is related to the shootings, but certainly worth noting that the police are keeping a close eye out with the limited resources they have.

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