Thursday, July 10, 2014

Crazy Evening In Buttercup, Margate Park Areas




A lot of confusion tonight....

First, some unconfirmed reports of gunfire in Buttercup Playlot.  Repeat, unconfirmed.

Now it looks like there was a crime scene at Marine and Winona involving a CTA bus and possibly another car.  The police are putting up yellow tape and Marine Drive buses are being rerouted to Sheridan.

More as we find out more.

Update Marine Drive:  We are hearing that there was a hit-and-run between a car and bus.  There was a pursuit and police from various districts are looking for the car, including checking hospital emergency rooms for anyone injured.

Update Buttercup:  Some people who were in the area of Buttercup say they heard nothing.  Others say they heard shots fired and saw a car waiting for the shooter on Margate, which headed east toward Marine Drive.

Now, the big question -- could these incidents be related?  Not hard to imagine that a getaway driver, pumped up on adrenalin and stupidity, could have hit the bus in his eagerness to get out of the area.  But again, nothing is confirmed as of now.  All our information is from readers and UU eyewitnesses.  We'll update as we hear more.

Update:  The two incidents were apparently related.  A Facebook reader says, "I saw a man run east on Margate from the park, jump into a red sedan, take off, and was followed by another vehicle at high speed."

Another says, "Just spoke to a police officer, shots were fired at the park, they ran down Margate, got in a car. Hit the bus, got on LSD and took off. No arrests."

First -- thank you to everyone who is helping us to follow this story and for your photos.  Much appreciated.  If you saw anything that could help the cops, or heard anything, please call 911 and let them know.  Ever since the gang-related murder in Sheridan Park last weekend, it's been crazy with the gangbangers seeking vengeance on each other.  The cops stressed at last night's CAPS meeting that posting on social media doesn't help them solve crimes.  If you saw something that can help solve this, call 911 or report it anonymous through the Text2Tip program on your phone.

Now it's more than just the gangbangers involved.  Readers tell us there were plenty of kids in Buttercup Park when the shots rang out, including a group having a barbecue.  It's miraculous no one was hurt.

Update:  Can it get any weirder?  A reader says, "There were three cars, one of them being red. One car hit the bus, the other flew down Carmen St.  They were having a shoot out with each other.  Bus driver told me he got some plate numbers so hopefully that will help with something."

That would explain the bullet markers on Marine in the photos above.

If Ald. Osterman releases any information, we'll update with it.

Update:  A lengthy, but thorough, account from a witness on Marine Drive, posted to UU's Facebook page:  "I hear gunshots right in front of my building. I've lived here long enough to know the difference. Bang Bang....BangBangBangBang.

I run to the window thinking 'look hard, make sure you can give the cops a description.' I see a car backing up and roaring through the circle drive in front of my building. Maroon car, 2 black youth, baggy t-shirts. I whip out my phone and dial 911..it rings and rings and rings...what's your emergency, what's your location?

By the time I hung up the phone, the cops were already in front of my building, maybe a minute after the shooter drove off. Say what you will about the CPD, but I was happy to see them. And it was a mob, 5 or 6 cars.

From what I could piece together, it was 2 cars of gang bangers from Uptown chasing each other. One car (black) gets trapped behind a bus, the a guy from the other car (maroon) jumps out and starts shooting.

We think someone in the black car is hit, and they crash into the back of the bus, back up and zoom off and down Lake Shore Drive.

Looks like 2 different guns, so maybe they were shooting at each other, still unknown. Police tape, evidence markers.

I have lived up here off and on for almost 10 years and this is the first time anything like this has happened. Normally the worst thing that happens is some homeless guy pees on your bushes.

We know these guys are from Uptown, and it's summer, and we just happened to be the shortest distance between 2 points. All I could think of was 'now I'm NEVER going to be able to sell this place...'"

Update:  The Tribune has the story.  Nothing about Buttercup Park, but it has shots being fired from one car on Marine Drive, and another car hitting the bus.  It's not drawing any conclusions that the two incidents were related.  Read the story here.

8 comments:

  1. No gunshots in buttercup. Been home all day and that's my backyard

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  2. No shots in the park, they were all up here on Marin between Carmen and Winona. I saw the shooter's car, he turned around in the drive way of my building.

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  3. Shots were fired at 17:40. Few seconds after a red Nissan rushed south on Marine drive (from Winona) and blew through the stop sign at Carmen and Marine. That's all I saw.

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  4. I'm on Ainslie near Marine and I definitely heard the car hit the bus. I looked out the window and didn't see anything except a neighbor looking down the street toward Marine. I assumed that's all it was... just sounded like a car rear ending another. I didn't hear anything at all that sounded like gunshots or even firecrackers for that matter. I had walked my dog earlier by Buttercup Playlot an it was really packed with kids.

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  5. Nothing happened at Buttercup park. It is being mentioned because one of the cars involved was reported in the area after the incident.

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    1. I don't think that's true. I can tell you that if you read the emails and comments on Facebook we were getting, that many people noticed shooting and a getaway car at Buttercup at 5:30. At 5:50, we started getting reports of a bus/car accident and then of shooting on Marine. Something happened at Buttercup -- then at Marine.

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  6. Well, you might know more about what happened at Buttercup. I just listened on the scanner minutes after Marine dr incident and the report was that after Marine shooting and bus hit, one of the car was seen there.

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