ROGERS PARK — A stray bullet fired by a gunman in a Rogers Park alley blasted through the wall of a condominium and ended up in a man's refrigerator, police said.
Witnesses said a man in his 20s pulled out a gun and fired at a man sitting on a stoop and warming his hands behind a building in the 1400 block of West Pratt Boulevard.
None of the shots hit anybody — but one of them hit a man's refrigerator door in the 6700 block of North Newgard Avenue at about 5 p.m. Wednesday, according to a police report.
When the police arrived, the owner of the condo unit told the officers about the bullet in his fridge, but declined to cooperate beyond that, police said.
The bullet went through the back wall of his unit, police said.
Investigators found four 9 mm casings behind the West Pratt Boulevard apartment.
Police said they didn't know why the man warming his hands was targeted. He told officers he had walked an acquaintance home and was on the back stoop preparing to leave when he noticed someone in his peripheral version.
When he turned, he saw a man who appeared to be aiming a gun at him, and he ran for safety. The victim heard the shots as he ran from the parking lot in the direction of Newgard Avenue, police said.
Brian Elliot, 42, a witness to the shooting, said he was finishing the last bites of lunch in his car when the gunman appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. The intended target had been about 10 feet away, standing on the stoop and blowing into his hands, when the gunman raised the weapon and began shooting, according to Elliot.
“His arm was straight out firing at him,” Elliot said.
“I was in shock. I’m like, ‘Am I watching a movie?’ because it just happened so quick. And when I saw the flash coming from when the gunman was shooting — I saw the flash from the barrel of the gun — I was kind of like: ‘Wow, oh my God, I can’t believe this is happening,’” Elliot said.
Elliot said the gunman was a dark-skinned black male in his mid-20s. He wore a black coat with a gray hooded sweatshirt underneath, he said. After firing the shots, the gunman ran eastward from the parking lot toward Glenwood Avenue.
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