EDGEWATER — Edgewater resident Kevin Murray said he was shoveling snow from the sidewalk Wednesday morning when he heard three shots.
"Boom, boom, boom! It was so close to me — less than 50 feet," Murray said of the shooting of a 23-year-old man in the 5800 block of North Kenmore Avenue.
Murray, 50, said the man was holding his side, calling out for help as he walked from the street to the sidewalk on the east side of the street.
Other people nearby rushed to help, telling the man, "'Don't die, keep breathing,'" according to Murray, a three-year resident of the block where two other men were injured in a shooting on Dec. 21.
"It was so quick, so fast, you know," Murray said. "I was just shoveling snow, minding my own business."
About 7:40 a.m., the victim left a building on the block, walked up to a white sedan and had "a conversation" with the car's passengers before being shot, according to Officer Veejay Zala, a police spokesman.
The car was last seen fleeing northbound on Kenmore, Zala said.
The injured man was taken in serious but stable condition to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, according to police.
Murray said he remembered the December shooting, too.
"A lot of shootings up here, a lot of shootings," he said. "It's crazy."
Another nearby resident, who asked to be identified only as Sarah, said that during the December shooting she was awakened by gunshots early in the morning. But on Wednesday she said she didn't notice the police activity on her block until she walked outside to catch a train.
Edgewater "seems so safe," she said. "It's lovely. I walk all around. I know my neighbors."
