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'No One Really Walks Around Here At Night Anymore': Gunfire Erupts Outside Cuvee In River North As Suspects Flee Police In Rolls Royce

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Multiple rounds of gunfire, perhaps has many has 40 shots, rang out around 3 a.m. Wednesday on a River North street outside nightclub Cuvee Chicago.

Police Supt. Eddie Johnson says the city may have to consider shutting the club down.

"It's a fairly calm and quiet neighborhood during the day, but at night it seems to transform into something else around here," one resident said. He works in the building that includes the club. One of his co-workers, Mitch Green, told CBS 2 that another employee's car was struck by bullets.

In a video posted on social media, a white Rolls Royce pulls out of a parking lot on the 300 block of West Erie near the club moments after the shots are fired.

Chicago police said people inside two vehicles started arguing before the shots were fired.

At least two officers on foot, with their guns drawn, tried to stop the Rolls Royce Royce moments after the shots were fired.

The driver blew past street officers who, under department rules, could not fire at the car or chase it.

"It's not a matter of us firing back, especially if other people can be harmed," Johnson said.

The Rolls Royce made a sharp right turn out of the parking lot and got onto the I-90 feeder ramp at Ontario.

"I thought I was going to get hit," said witness Fernando Mendoza. "I'm looking through my rear view mirror and am seeing smoke from bullets."

That vehicle crashed a short time later on the Kennedy Expressway, and two males fled the scene of the crash on foot, according to police. One of them was arrested, and the other has not been caught.

Warning: This video contains strong language. 

A person in a third vehicle was involved in a dispute with investigating officers and was also arrested, police said.

No one was injured in the shooting, according to police.

A video of the shooting scene was taken by Darnell Lindsey, a Chicago social media personality and comedian, who was standing outside of the club near a vehicle parked on the street when the gunfire erupted.

Lindsey, who posts on social media under the name @bighomieblocks, shared the video online.

He can be heard on the video comparing the sound of the shots to fireworks on the 4th of July.

"I'm just the cameraman--I'm just here," he said on the video as the cops ran by.

The River North area, known as one of the most expensive neighborhoods in Chicago to live in, is located in a police district that's seen at least a 60% spike in crime during the past four years, police data shows. 

Recent murders have shocked the community, including the fatal shooting of off-duty Chicago police officer John Rivera, who was shot as he sat inside a vehicle outside of River North bar Stout in March.

A few weeks before Rivera was killed, a bouncer working at Sound Bar on the 600 block of Franklin was murdered when a verbal altercation broke out in the alley by the bar's entrance.

That bouncer, Thurman Bailey, 28, was shot along with another man who was wounded, police said.

Just over a year ago, Miguel Beedle was murdered while standing outside of a River North club. Police said Beedle was stabbed to death by a man who noticed him counting cash.

A handful of late-night River North clubs seem to bring criminals to the area, but not all bars attract unsavory customers.

The Green Door Tavern has been perched on the corner of Orleans and Huron since 1921. The dive-bar is less than a block from where Wednesday's shooting happened.

Employees had already gone home for the night by the time the shots rang out Wednesday morning, but news of the shooting has left staff shaken.

Chris Schmitt, a bartender at Green Door, said he always takes an Uber home after work because he's uncomfortable walking down the street with cash in his pocket.

"No one really walks around here at night anymore," Schmitt said. "It's Chicago, so it happens, unfortunately."

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