UPTOWN — A man was shot and seriously injured on the same block as Ald. James Cappleman's (46th) re-election party Tuesday.
According to police, a 27-year-old man was shot in the 4700 block of North Broadway around 2:45 p.m. Roughly a few hours later around 6:30 p.m., Cappleman's supporters started to fill Uptown Underground, a retro-themed burlesque and cabaret venue at 4707 N. Broadway, ahead of what would become a night of celebration for the alderman.
Police said the man was sitting in the driver's seat of a car when another car pulled alongside and someone inside opened fire, striking the victim in his chest, arm and leg.
The victim was taken to Illinois Masonic Hospital, where he was listed in serious condition, police said, adding that is unknown if the shooting was gang-related or not.
Cappleman said he's "still getting details on the incident," and officers at the Town Hall police district could not immediately be reached for comment.
Three police squad cars were seen parked outside of Cappleman's 46th ward office at 4544 N. Broadway Tuesday evening.
A resident, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, said she was in the middle of a conference call when she heard gunshots.
"The customer heard it and I told her it was the radio. ... I didn't know what else to say," the woman said, who works from her Uptown apartment in a five-story building at Beacon Street and Leland Avenue.
She said she was planning on calling 911 after her work-related call ended, but she heard sirens right away.
"They must've responded within 10 minutes," she said.
The shooting was particularly "nerve-wracking" because it took place in the middle of the day, she said.
"It's not like it's happening at three or four in the morning when you shouldn't be outside anyway," she said. "Since I've lived here, shootings happened anywhere from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. when I'm out walking."
She said she's now able to tell the difference between gunshots and fireworks because of the frequency of shootings near her apartment building.
"It's something you have to hear many times to be able to distinguish," she said. If the shooter is using a handgun, for example, the "intervals between pops sound like they're human manipulated," she said.
Now she's "definitely moving" to another neighborhood when her lease is up at the end of May, even though she "loves Uptown" otherwise, she said.
"I keep hoping every year that it's going to be better," she said. "It's a bad precedent for the rest of the year. I don't feel unsafe otherwise. I just don't want to walk through something."
She called herself "lucky" for being able to move "somewhere safer."
"I worry about people who can't change their situation as quickly as I can," she said.
When asked how he might address a neighbor who wants to move out of the ward due to violence, Cappleman said he would tell her that his ward office door is "always open" and encourages her to talk to him or Town Hall police officers to address specific concerns.
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