Another Shooting In Humboldt Park Has Neighbor Feeling Lucky To Be Alive After Garage Riddled With Bullets
CHICAGO (CBS) -- It happened again, another shooting in the Humboldt Park neighborhood, despite stay-at-home orders. It's the latest shooting in a spike that CBS 2 has been tracking.
A 35-year-old man was wounded Saturday night in a shooting caught on camera. As CBS 2's Steven Graves found out, some neighbors are lucky to be alive.
A flurry of gunfire interrupts the calming sound of chirping birds in surveillance video of the shooting. The footage shows a black SUV speeding off after the attack.
"I think there were about 10 or 12 gunshots," said a neighbor who asked to remain anonymous
His garage in the alley of the 2500 block of West Thomas Avenue was shot up, leaving him afraid to show his face on camera.
"If I was sitting in my car, in the seat where the bullet went through, I don't know if I'd be here today," he said.
The attack was aimed at the garage across from his. The family who owns the garage said a 35-year-old man who was shot in the leg was helping someone fix a car. They said this attack was a random.
"I figured it was on that corner at Campbell and Thomas, because a couple of incidents have happened there," the neighbor said.
At the corner of Thomas and Campbell is a church, and a street sign has been left bent, with a bullet hole in it.
CBS 2 has done stories before about how this might be a sign of gang activity in the area. Neighbors now wonder if that's the motive for a spike in Humboldt Park gun violence, as people should be sheltering at home.
The time of the stay-at-home order, spurred by COVID-19, has proved more dangerous in Humboldt Park, where shootings are up 14% year-to-date compared to 2019.
For the week of April 27 to May 3, there were nine shootings last year, but 16 this year, including at least one homicide.
"I was just at Humboldt Park two weeks ago, just walking through the park and there was a gun fight about a hundred yards away," the neighbor said.
Chicago police would not provide details on enforcement efforts in the neighborhood for safety reasons.
Local aldermen have yet to speak out, but a resounding message is echoing from neighbors. They want to see this trend in violence stop.
