CHICAGO — Four men in their 20s who were shot overnight while walking on a sidewalk in the Irving Park neighborhood on the city’s Northwest Side are expected to survive.
According to police, the shooting happened around 2:30 a.m. Thursday in the 4200 block of North Knox Avenue. The area is mainly industrial, with multiple businesses, including a recording studio that sits just feet from where the shooting happened.
It’s not clear if the victims had been at the recording studio around the time of the shooting.
Police say the four victims, all men between ages 20 and 25, were walking on the sidewalk when shots were fired from a dark-colored sedan.
Two victims were transported to area hospitals by the Chicago Fire Department, one with a graze wound to the left arm and one with a graze wound to the neck. Both were listed in good condition.
The other two victims were driven to area hospitals, police say, one with gunshot wounds to the buttocks and groin area and one with gunshot wounds to the buttocks and left leg. Both were also listed in good condition.
It’s not clear if any of the vehicles on the street were struck by gunfire.
Meanwhile, two employees of a rental car agency in the area came to work early Thursday morning to find the scene nearby. They say they haven’t been able to get the rental cars out of the crime-scene perimeter.
They also say it’s a quiet area and that they’re never seen so many police officers there.
“Most of the time, we’re always outside,” Nam Duong said. “It’s really safe here. Everyone’s really cool with each other. Whatever happened, I don’t think it was from anybody here.”
“It’s just still shocking that it happened,” Geo Bedrejo added. “It’s just a surprise.”
Also Thursday morning, police had a vehicle with visible damage from gunfire cordoned off outside Community First Medical Center, located in the 5600 block of West Addison Street, about a mile-and-a-half from where the shooting occurred. It’s not clear whether the two scenes were connected.
According to police, however, one of the victims was driven to Community First Medical Center before he was due to be transferred to another hospital.
Police say they have nobody in custody, and Area Five detectives are investigating the incident.