ROGERS PARK — A masked gunman shot four teenagers, one fatally, in a Rogers Park McDonald's parking lot Wednesday afternoon, police said.
The incident occurred about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, shortly after an argument the group had with several others. After the dispute, a masked gunman approached the group and fired shots in their direction, said Officer Veejay Zala, a Chicago Police Department spokesman.
Markeyo Carr, 17, of the 6500 block of North Ashland Avenue, died after being shot in his head, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office. After the shooting, police closed off access to the McDonald's at 6740 N. Clark St., where a sheet covered his body in the parking lot.
Carr was pronounced dead at the morgue at 8 p.m. Wednesday.
A 15-year-old girl was shot multiple times, and an 18-year-old man was shot in his back. Both were sent to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston in serious condition.
Another 18-year-old man was shot in his arm and took himself to Weiss Memorial Hospital, where he is in "stable" condition, police said.
The gunman fled in an unknown direction, said Officer Daniel O'Brien, a police spokesman.
Ald. Joe Moore (49th) said Thursday in an email to constituents that the incident was captured on multiple security cameras. Police told him the victims were not students at nearby Sullivan High School, he said.
Augustine Tronou, 18, said he was at the McDonald's with friends and had just left when shots rang out. Tronou said he knew the girl who was shot.
"We good friends," said Tronou, an Uplift High School student, while standing on a sidewalk kitty-cornered from the restaurant. "I came out of the McDonald’s, and I heard the gunshots. ... [Police] won’t let nobody else in."
Tronou said he had heard about other recent shootings in the neighborhood and warned his friends to stay out of trouble.
"It’s crazy, really," he said. "They always hang out over there, but I told them they can’t hang out over there like that."
Faye McCoy, who said she was a friend of the mother of one of the victims, said she ran over to the scene from a nearby store after the shooting and witnessed the masked gunman flee the scene.
"We heard the shots," McCoy said. "That could've been my grandson."
She said Carr was "not a gangbanger."
"They’re shooting up people that aren’t even gangbangers," she said. "I know his mom — I was just trying to console her. They won’t let her see him."
Police said that it was too early to tell if the shooting was gang-related, though two of the four victims are known gang members, Zala said.
Joe Fonzetti, who owns a money-transfer business across the street from the McDonald's, said high school students congregate at the restaurant after school.
"It’s terrible," he said. "Every day there’s a problem here, inside, outside — fights."
Moore said the owner of the McDonald's agreed to close the dining area from 3-5 p.m. to discourage violent confrontations there.
Ross Fantozzi, 38, said he lives a couple of blocks away and was at the scene, which drew crowds of onlookers and several news crews.
"It’s not the West Side or South Side," he said of the neighborhood, "but it’s always had its issues and problems."
By Thursday morning, Carr's body had been removed from the McDonald's parking lot. Two of the restaurant's workers shoveled blood-soaked snow from the pavement.
Worker Gerido Gonzales, 30, said he felt "surprise" when he heard about what had happened the night before.
He said many of the people working at the McDonald's Thursday were feeling "scared."
