3 Shot In Rogers Park; Victims Strike Nurse While Driving To Emergency Room
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Three people rushed to the hospital late Thursday after they were shot in Rogers Park, and a nurse was injured when the victims' car struck her as they were driving themselves to the emergency room.
Police said the chain of events started when a man and two women were shot while in a vehicle at a stop sign in the 1500 block of West Morse Avenue around 10:15 p.m. All three were shot in the back.
The victims sped to Presence Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston. When they were a couple blocks away, their vehicle struck 59-year-old nurse who was riding her bike home from work at Saint Francis at the time. Evanston police said the 23-year-old woman who was driving kept going, but when the victims got to the hospital, they told the emergency room staff they had hit a person on their way in, so hospital employees rushed to attend to the woman who had been hit.
A 26-year-old man who was in the vehicle was treated at Saint Francis, and released early Friday. One woman who was in the car was in the intensive care unit, and the other was in serious condition.
The nurse who was struck was hospitalized in fair condition. Saint Francis said the woman is the lead surgical nurse at the hospital, and has worked at Saint Francis for more than 20 years.
"She was on her way home on her bicycle on the sidewalk over here on Austin, when a car turned the corner, jumped the curb, and struck her," Presence Health spokesman Jim O'Connell said. "It could have been much worse, and it wasn't."
The nurse was scheduled to undergo surgery for a compound fracture in her left leg.
"She's got a great personality, great work ethic. She's well-liked. She's part of a real important team as part of our operating room and our surgical sweet here; longtime employee, and we're glad she's going to be okay," O'Connell said. "We're a big family here, and we're concerned for the other members of our family and our team at Presence Saint Francis, but we have a great team in place, a great trauma center. In the emergency department, we see more than 35,000 patients a year; so we know she's going to be okay."
No one was in custody for the shooting early Friday. Police said the shooting appeared to be gang-related.
