More than an hour after gunfire rattled the mini-mart parking lot, a call came in for a second man who may have been shot.
The new ambulance pulled up to 77th Street and May Street about 1:50 a.m. Friday, parking along the intersection facing east on 77th. Paramedics rolled a stretcher over to three-story brick apartment building on the west side of May and started to load a man onto the stretcher. But they left without him, returning the empty stretcher to the ambulance and driving away.
It turned out the man, who is 28, had just noticed a potential bullet hole in his shoe, police said. Not including him, at least 11 people were shot in Chicago Thursday through Friday morning. The youngest among them was 16.
Shortly after 12:35 a.m., the shooting down 77th at Racine Avenue had injured a 19-year-old man who was standing on the sidewalk when the shooter walked up and fired, hitting him in the back, police said. He ran to a home east along the block on Aberdeen Street to seek help after the shooting, witnesses said. He was stable, and was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center.
The lot outside a market on in the 7700 block of South Racine Avenue was taped off in yellow into two sections, with at least four shell casings marked in each, allowing for a pathway to and from the store’s main entrance.
The store sells snacks and cigarettes along with items ranging from cat food to dish soap and other toiletries, all behind glass cases and accessible only by request.
The store clerk, who did not want to be identified by name out of concern for his safety, said he heard a handful of shots, but didn’t bother to duck down because the area behind the counter is protected with bulletproof glass. Nor did he go outside to see what happened, because if he did, he might also be shot, he said.
“[What if] I lose my life?” the clerk said. “It’s dangerous.”
But the market is lucrative, with many customers in the area, so he plans to stay there, he said.
“All I can do is come, work, do my job, go home,” he said. “You’ve got to feed your family.”
Customers continued to come and go while police investigated.
“Get me a rice crispy,” one man said.
“How many?”
“…Two.”
Two women walked in. One paid for the order, which included two bags of chips — barbecue and plain — and a glass bottle of ginger ale. She noticed her companion eyeing a slice of cheesecake in a refrigerated case near the register.
“You want the cheesecake,” she said to the other woman, then turned to the clerk. “Let me get the cheesecake.”
“You’re doing too much,” the other woman protested.
“Oh you wanna fight? Go out there and fight the police detectives,” the first woman joked.
“Nah,” the second woman said. “They here to protect us.”
The shooting outside the store happened barely 20 minutes after another man was shot nearby, in the 8100 block of South Sangamon Street.
The 44-year-old man was standing on the front porch of a boarded-up two-story house about 12:15 a.m. when someone in a black SUV shot him in the right leg. Police said he was taken to St. Bernard’s Hospital and was stable. A red solo cup rested on one of the porch steps, in the middle of the taped off crime scene.
In other shootings,
About 12:50 p.m. in Chatham, a 27-year-old man was shot in the back while walking on the sidewalk in the 400 block of East 80th Street. He had just walked past two people when, moments late, at last one of them shot at him, police said. He was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition. Police said area south detectives were talking to a person of interest.
Around 2 p.m. in Gresham, a 34-year-old man walked out of a store in the 7900 block of South Paulina and was shot in his thumb and another finger, police said. He waited until early Friday to go to the hospital, showing up at Little Company of Mary, where police said he remained stable.
Shortly after 4:30 p.m. in the South Side’s Grand Crossing neighborhood, someone shot a a 54-year-old man in the foot while the two were arguing. The shooter is known but ran from the scene and is not in custody, police said. The man who was shot was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center in good condition.
Just before 8:50 p.m. in Lawndale, a 21-year-old man and 42-year-old woman were both shot while on the sidewalk in the 1100 block of South Richmond Avenue. Someone “possibly known” to the pair shot at them from a residential window, hitting the man in the right arm and leg and the grazing the woman in the left leg.
Across the city about two minutes later, just after 8:50 p.m. in Uptown, a 43-year-old woman was shot in the chest in the 4900 block of North Sheridan Road. The shooter is known but is not in custody, according to police. The woman was in serious condition, taken to Illinois Masonic Hospital.
Minutes before 9 p.m. in Washington Park, two people among a group standing in the street in the 6100 block of South Indiana Avenue were shot by someone in a black sedan, police said. A 23-year-old man hit in the neck and right shoulder was in critical condition, while a 16-year-old boy shot in the left knee was stable, police said. Both were taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center.
About 12:45 a.m. in Englewood, a 28-year-old man was shot in the neck in the 5500 block o South Emerald Avenue while inside a black car, which drove to the University of Chicago Medical Center. From there, he was transferred to Comer in serious condition. Police said it was unclear why he was transferred to the children’s hospital.
Shortly after 4:10 a.m., a bullet fired from the expressway hit a window of a CTA train in the 4600 block of West Montrose Avenue in the Mayfair neighborhood. No injuries were reported.
