LOGAN SQUARE — A Logan Square shooting in broad daylight that left a 25-year-old man dead has brought startled neighbors together in a fight against violence.
Neighbors near the site of the April 24 murder have grown increasingly concerned after learning of each successive shooting over the past year.
"There are a lot of people who have moved into the neighborhood and lived here for a couple years, just families, they were very scared," Amanda Yu Dieterich said.
Dieterich was one of dozens of neighborhood residents who joined officers from both police districts that border the scene of the shooting at the intersection of Schubert and Central Park avenues Monday night for an outdoor roll call.
Aldermen Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) and Milly Santiago (31st) also attended the roll call that was called in response to the shooting.
The victim, Justin T. Bowman, was fatally shot in his chest in the street at 6:23 p.m. on that Sunday, according to police and witnesses.
Ramirez-Rosa called the shooting a tragedy and unacceptable in the community.
The shooting occurred on a sunny day when many neighborhood residents were out with their families, Yu Dieterich said.
It is the second shooting in the area in less than a month. The first occurred in early April at the corner of Central Park and Wrightwood.
Ramirez-Rosa said he has been working with police from both districts that saddle Central Park, the Grand Central and Shakespeare Districts, and learned that the shooting was isolated.
"It was a very, very tragic incident what happened two weekends ago, but at this moment, it doesn’t appear to be part of a broader gang conflict in the area," Ramirez-Rosa said.
Ramirez-Rosa said investigators believe the suspect and victim had been in an earlier altercation and the suspect tracked him down.
He said the suspect "essentially assassinated him at that site."
"It's unfortunate that it occurred there, but it doesn’t seem like it's part of a broader issue in the community," Ramirez-Rosa said.
Residents who came together after the shooting hope it leads to a more active neighborhood presence in the fight against crime.
That means more 911 calls and better communication between neighbors.
Yu Dieterich, who has two young children, said every household on her block knows one another.
"I think this is the type of community we need to establish in the neighborhood. I want to help other blocks have this type of setup," she said. "You feel safer walking down your block because you always know somebody is watching out for you.”
Neighbors are concerned about coordination between the two police districts that share the Central Park border where the shooting occurred, Yu Dieterich said.
"One of our main concerns is that things are happening at boundary lines and we want officials and police districts to work together," she said. "I think that’s one of the things that’s hard to coordinate."
Ramirez-Rosa said the two districts are working together on the case and urged residents to continue calling 911.
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