WICKER PARK — A man who tried to stop a graffiti tagger that was defacing several sections of the historic Flat Iron building's facade was shot at by the gun-wielding tagger early Saturday, police said.
Around 4:53 a.m. Saturday, a 39-year-old man — who was near the Milwaukee, Damen and North avenues intersection — called police after he observed a man spraying white tags along the 1900 block of West North Avenue, said Officer Jose Estrada, a police spokesman.
Estrada said the tags say "VTC" and "FABO."
When the man approached the tagger, he "retreated to his vehicle but the the victim continued to approach, causing the tagger to point a gun out the window of his car and fire numerous times before driving northbound on Damen," Estrada said.
There were no injuries and the man was not struck, Estrada said.
The gunman is described as a white or Hispanic male, who was driving a green four-door sedan, Estrada said.
Area North detectives are investigating.
On Saturday afternoon, Charlie Rees, an artist who has a studio inside the Flat Iron building, said that he heard what he believed were gunshots just before 5 am. Saturday.
"I heard loud popping noises, but did not go outside," Rees said.
Rees said he was awake so early because he was working on a deadline to finish a stained glass art piece that was commissioned by a client.
When asked about the VTC and FABO graffiti tags all over the front of the Flat Iron building, including the Milwaukee-facing side of the corner building at 1579 N. Milwaukee Ave., Rees described the tags as "stupid."
"It's not even talent. I just do not understand [the tags]," Rees said.
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