CHICAGO — A civilian employee of the Chicago Police Department was killed and another man was wounded Wednesday night in a Morgan Park shooting, according to police.
The two men were outside in the 11500 block of South Church Street around 8:45 p.m. Wednesday when three people on bicycles opened fire, according to Officer Jose Estrada, a Chicago Police Department spokesman. Alfonza Wysinger, Chicago Police first deputy superintendent, said the shooters were teens and police are using video footage and reaching out to the community to find out more about the shooting.
John Buckner, 59, was hit in the lower torso while unloading groceries, police said. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in critical condition. His condition was downgraded to grave and he was later pronounced dead, Wysinger said at a Thursday news conference.
"He was an innocent bystander. He had just pulled up the front of the location with his wife and they were unloading groceries, going into the house," Wysinger said.
Buckner was a 25-year veteran of the police department's general support division, police said. Wysinger said he did not work closely with Buckner, but he saw him in and out of the office, including at church, where Buckner played guitar.
Buckner was "always smiling, always happy, always willing to lend a helping hand," Wysinger said.
James Jackson III, 27, and Marcus Davis, 24, live just a few blocks away from Buckner at 116th Street and Vincennes Avenue in Morgan Park. The pair knew Buckner as the organizer of picnics, barbecues and basketball games at nearby Blackwelder Park.
"He was a good man. He was a community leader," Davis said Thursday afternoon.
"The times that we saw him, he was a real genuine guy," Jackson said.
The two friends said the 11500 block of South Church Street is usually quiet. Though, they had both heard of roving bands of armed cyclists known simply as "biker boys."
"They just ride along shooting people," Davis said.
Shelia Thompkins lived on the same block as Buckner for past 10 1/2 years. She serves as the president and chaplain of the block club that stretches from 115th Street to 117th Street on Church Street.
Thompkins was asleep at the time of the shooting and initially thought the sound was fireworks.
"After 8 shots, I just stopped counting," she said.
Things on the block had been peaceful until about a week ago, she said, when she noticed a pair of suspicious people had returned. This criminal element had plagued the area for some time before things settled down, Thompkins said.
"We just got this block back together," she said.
Thompkins said Buckner was a staple at block parties, graduation celebrations and other community-building events — including a recent "Taste of Church Street" gathering.
"He brought the most food," Thompkins said. "It's like losing a family member."
Another victim, a 41-year-old man, was shot in the left ear and taken to Christ, where his condition stabilized, Estrada said.
Neither victim appears to have been the intended target of the shooting, police said. Wysinger called the shooting a "random act of violence" and said police think the incident stemmed from an earlier altercation at a nearby park, though neither victim of the shooting was involved in the altercation. Neither victim was robbed, Wysinger said.
No arrests have been made, Estrada said.
Wysinger called for stricter gun control at the news conference, echoing frequent statements from Supt. Garry McCarthy.
"Until we get some kind of stricter gun control, not only in the city of Chicago but in this country, we'll continue to see this senseless violence," Wysinger said.
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