Chicago Area Local News

CHICAGO (CBS) ― A jump in shootings and homicides has plagued Chicago throughout the year, and in a period of 24 hours, violence spilled into two of the city's trendiest and wealthiest neighborhoods.


 Tracking Summer Shootings In Chicago





A shooting was reported in the Lincoln Park neighborhood in broad daylight around 3:15 p.m. Thursday. Three unknown gunmen began approached several men in the 1600 block of North Orchard Street and began shooting.

A 21-year-old man was shot in the neck and taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in stable condition, and a 24-year-old man was shot in the leg and taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in good condition, according to police News Affairs. A third person ran into a wall, possibly while trying to run away, and knocked the wind out of himself. He was taken to Lincoln Park Hospital in good condition, Langford said.

The Lincoln Park shooting happened just a couple of blocks from the North and Clybourn, and a stone's throw east of a trendy stretch of Halsted Street, and the Royal George and Steppenwolf theatres. It is also close to the historically high-crime Cabrini-Green public housing development. But much of the development has now been demolished, and there have not been published reports of any shootings there this summer.

Less than 12 hours after the Lincoln Park incident, a man standing on a Wicker Park neighborhood street corner was fatally shot early Friday just blocks from busy Division Street bars.

David Valentin, 26, of 2110 W. Division St., was shot at 1936 W. Crystal St. and was pronounced dead at 1:32 a.m. at Stroger Hospital of Cook County, said the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.

Somebody inside a white sport-utility vehicle opened fire on a group of people standing in the street just before 1 a.m. and Valentin was struck in the chest, police said. Nobody else was injured, and the shooter fled in the SUV in an unknown direction, police said. Information about the motive has not been learned.

The shooting happened one street north from a busy stretch of bars, restaurants and boutiques on Division Street. Phyllis' Musical Inn, Casa de Soul, Moonshine, and Vintage wine bar are all located within a few minutes' walk.

While Wicker Park was infamous for crime and gang activity in the 1970s, shootings have been rare in the neighborhood – considered one of the city's most fashionable – in recent years.

As of July, homicides were up 18 percent this year, with more than half being gang-related and 80 percent of the murders were committed with a firearm, police said.

The communities of South Shore, South Chicago, Park Manor, West Pullman, Auburn-Gresham, Englewood, Back of the Yards, Little Village, West Garfield Park, and South Austin have the greatest concentration of shootings over the summer. Hermosa and Rogers Park have also seen several shootings this summer.

But overall, shootings have decreased so far this year compared with last year in many parts of the South and West sides. They fell 4.8 percent in the Englewood police District, 7 percent in the Near West Side's Wood District, 18.4 percent in the Grand Crossing District – which includes the South Shore and Grand Crossing neighborhoods, and 18.4 percent in the Wentworth District – which includes Washington Park and Grand Boulevard.

Violent crime decreased in 12 of the 25 police districts through July, statistics show.

According to the report, 50 percent of the murders through July involved known acquaintances and only six percent were stranger-related compared to 28.8 percent during the same period in 2007.

The STNG Wire contributed to this report.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Editor's Picks

• CBS 2 WeatherTrak Forecast
• Gay Celebrities
• Famous People Pigging Out
• Did You Know? Stars From Chicago!
• 2009 Celebrity Deaths