COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A high school student from Evanston on parole for a gun conviction was held on $1 million bail Monday after prosecutors said he and two others fired at least 78 shots in a Wrigleyville alley this weekend.
The shooting happened just after 3 a.m. Sunday near Racine and Patterson, Assistant State's Attorney Erin Antonietti said during a bond hearing Monday.
Ralph Banks, 19, was walking in the alley with three other men when the group looked back and someone fired a gun, prosecutors said. Banks and two other men began firing multiple shots toward Racine Street, where there were cars and pedestrians present, Antonietti said.
Surveillance video shows the shooters using a garage for cover as they fire multiple rounds, according to prosecutors.
In all, police recovered 78 shell casings spanning five different calibers, Antonietti said. Officers found a loaded .40 caliber Glock near Banks when they arrested him, and two other guns were stuffed under parked cars. Five vehicles were damaged by bullets, she added.
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Police at the nearby McDonald's at Addison and Clark heard the gunfire and ran toward the shooting on foot, Antonietti said. Additional officers responded, and police were able to arrest Banks, who stumbled between two cars as he tried to run away.
Banks is currently on parole for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. As a juvenile, he was adjudicated, or found guilty, of attempted murder, prosecutors said.
According to Banks' public defender, Banks is a high school junior who lives with his aunt in north suburban Evanston. He is charged with aggravated discharge of a firearm.
The other alleged shooters have not yet been arrested or charged. Antonietti said Banks was clearly captured on surveillance footage of the shooting. The clothes he was wearing when he was arrested about 3:15 a.m. Sunday matched his outfit in the video, she added.
According to prosecutors, police fired two shots that morning, but no one was injured by the officers.
In a Facebook post, Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) called the shooting was an "isolated incident" connected to a party at a building near the intersection.
Tunney's full statement on Facebook also praised the police response time and officers' handling of the scene:
I have been in constant contact with Commander Cesario and the 19th Police District as they are gathering more information on the shooting that occurred at Racine and Patterson early on Sunday Morning. Police rapidly responded to the occurrence after the first shot was fired. The owner of the building is being contacted to discuss the party where this event took place. I believe this was an isolated incident and clearly not a normal occurrence for our neighborhood. I will continue to update neighbors as we learn more.
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