'I Ran For My Life': Chicago Activist Describes Shooting In Hyde Park Just Hours Before 24-Year-Old Man Killed Blocks Away
CHICAGO (CBS)-- Hours before a 24-year-old man was shot and killed blocks from the University of Chicago Campus Tuesday, another shooting took place in broad daylight also in Hyde Park.
The shooting took place on 53rd and Harper, which is a a very busy area with businesses on every corner. Cars and stores were shot at and people were running for cover.
"I ran for my life," Jahmal Cole, Chicago activist, said. "I dove underneath a car for cover and then i got up and then ran for my life again."
He said it came out of nowhere.
"I just remember the cadence of the shots," He said. "I don't remember how many shots, it was an automatic weapon."
Cole is the founder of My Block, My Hood, My City and is running for Illinois' First Congressional District seat.
He said if he had to put a number on it, he heard at least 30 shots.
"It just happened so fast, I could be dead right now," Cole said.
A different shooting two hours later left a 24-year-old man, who was a recent graduate of the University of Chicago, dead.
Police said a 24-year-old man was on the sidewalk on the 900 block of East 54th Place shortly before 2 p.m. – when out of nowhere, a vehicle pulled up, and a gunman jumped out and demanded his property.
The attacker then shot the victim in the chest, got back in the vehicle, and fled the scene. It was not clear whether he even took anything.
Both of these shootings happened in the 2nd District.
Shootings are up 44% in the district over last year.
And digging into the past 2-years... Shootings are up 108-percent.
Cole says it's all the more reason why the federal government needs to step in.
"You can't non-profit or program your way out of gun violence," Cole said. "We need the federal government to step up and support us. We need publicly funded mental health services."
Rep. Bobby Rush came to the neighborhood after the shooting, saying he is pushing in Congress for a stronger response to gun violence..
