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Man Charged in Rogers Park Shooting of Couple in Car No Stranger to Police

By Mark Schipper | September 23, 2015 9:23am | Updated on September 23, 2015 11:12am
 Nathaniel Richardson, 23, of the 700 block of S. Kostner Avenue.
Nathaniel Richardson, 23, of the 700 block of S. Kostner Avenue.
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Chicago Police

ROGERS PARK — A 23-year-old man charged in a Sept. 11 shooting in Rogers Park that hospitalized two, including one in critical condition, had been arrested less than two weeks earlier in a separate shooting that the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute for lack of evidence.

Nathaniel Richardson of the 700 block of S. Kostner Ave. was charged with two felony counts of aggravated battery/discharge of a firearm after the Sept. 11 incident, according to Chicago Police.  

In that incident, which occurred about 11:15 p.m. in the 1600 block of West Juneway Terrace at the city’s far northern boundary, Richardson allegedly opened fired on a car after it turned east on to Juneway from Paulina St., police said. 

The 31-year-old female driver of the car told officers that a group of men had surrounded her vehicle as she made the turn on to Juneway. When she slowed the car to avoid hitting anyone in the street, Richardson allegedly shouted, “This car here, they be disrespectful” before he took out a handgun and began firing, according to police. People were reportedly on the street for a memorial service for a gang leader killed a year earlier.

Neighbors attending a community policing meeting Tuesday were told that the shooter was offended by the music coming from the car.

After her car was shot, the woman sped to the 7500 block of N. Sheridan Rd. where she called 911.  

The woman's shot in the hand while a passenger in the car, who was sitting in the front seat, was hit in the right side of his torso. The driver was treated and released from St. Francis Hospital in Evanston a short time later while the passenger was listed at the time in critical condition.

Richardson was taken into custody in the 1500 block of W. Jonquil Terrace, one block south of the shooting scene, after he matched the driver's description of the shooter, police said. Richardson was taken to the woman and she identified him as the man who had opened fire on her car, according to police.

On Aug. 31, twelve days before the latest incident, Richardson had been arrested by police responding to a report of shots being fired, according to both police and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.

In the Aug. 31 case, officers arrived in the 7700 block of N. Sheridan Road around 8:45 p.m. and were told by witnesses of a man in a white shirt and blue jeans running from Rogers Beach after the shots were heard in the area. 

Officers quickly stopped Richardson in the 7700 block of Eastlake for questioning and recovered a loaded .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun nearby, police said. Eyewitnesses said Richardson looked like the man they had seen running from the beach, according to a Chicago Police report.  

At the time Richardson told officers the gunshots came from an unidentified rival gang member who fled south on Rogers Ave. in a grey Range Rover with tinted windows.

Richardson denied the handgun police found was his but later, at the 24th District station, he told officers he had seen the gun before, police said. Richardson told officers his fingerprints might be on the weapon but could not explain why they would be there, according to the report.

Police said the handgun had been reported stolen in Tulsa, Oklahoma in May.

In the Aug. 31 incident, Richardson originally was charged with aggravated assault with a handgun, unlawful possession of a stolen handgun, and possession of a firearm and ammunition without a FOID card, according to the police department. 

The Cook County State's Attorney's Office declined to prosecute because there was insufficient evidence to prove he had possession of the weapon at the time of the shooting, said Sandra Simonton, a spokesperson for the office. 

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