17-Year-Old Boy Killed, 4 Injured In Evanston Shooting; Police Believe Shooting Was Targeted
EVANSTON, Ill. (CBS) -- A teen is dead and four others were injured in a shooting in Evanston Sunday evening.
At a news conference Monday afternoon, Evanston police Sgt. Ken Carter said at 7:17 p.m. Sunday, police began receiving numerous 911 calls about shots being fired at Green Bay Road and Foster Street– a little less than a mile west of the Northwestern University campus.
Five gunshot victims were found at a gas station at 1950 Green Bay Rd. One of them – identified as Carl Dennison, 17 – was pronounced dead on the scene, Carter said.
The other victims – two boys and two girls between the ages of 14 and 18 and all from either Evanston or Skokie – were taken to area hospitals. One 14-year-old remained in critical condition Monday afternoon, while the other three victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
As CBS 2's Asal Rezaei reported, the shooting happened in a well-lit area. The gas station sits at the end of a residential street.
Neighbors said they saw multiple teenagers lying in the road after being shot.
Evanston police officers rushed to what quickly became a hectic crime scene – with dozens of officers taking over the gas station, stringing up crime scene tape, and placing evidence markers for shell casings.
A preliminary investigation indicates that the victims all knew each other. The male victims were standing near a car, while the female victims were inside the car, Carter said.
The car in question was seen up against a pole following the shooting. Firefighters were seen helping one of the victims as she sat next to a gas pump.
Carter said the shooting appears to be a targeted incident, and the motive remained under investigation by detectives Monday afternoon. No one was in custody and no profile of a suspect or suspects was available Monday afternoon, but investigators from the North Regional Major Crimes Task Force are working diligently to find out who is responsible, Carter said.
The incident took place between two gas stations, and police earlier said they are looking for surveillance video. No surveillance video or photos were released Monday.
"Today, Evanston's heart is broken," Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss said at a news conference. "Any act of violence that occurs here tears at the fabric of our community, but the extraordinary youth of the victims of last night's tragedy, I think, is tugging at the consciences of all of us today."
Mayor Biss said the City of Evanston would go to all lengths to find the perpetrator or perpetrators and bring them to justice, and also to focus on violence prevention.
"It is something that we cannot accept as a sad, but inevitable course of ordinary life," Biss said.
Evanston police Cmdr. Ryan Glew also said at the news conference that the attack appeared to be targeted, and there is nothing to indicate a continued threat to the public.
Glew said the shooting was not related to another shooting that wounded a 29-year-old man near Howard Street and Clark Street/Chicago Avenue – miles away at the boundary between Chicago and Evanston.
Anyone with information is asked to call Evanston police at (847) 866-5040.
