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'It's Getting To Be Ridiculous': Wicker Park Gang Shooting Wounds Man

By Alisa Hauser | July 18, 2016 9:50am
 A man was wounded in a Wicker Park shooting overnight.
A man was wounded in a Wicker Park shooting overnight.
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DNAinfo file photo/Devlin Brown

WICKER PARK — An early Sunday shooting not far from Wicker Park's main intersection started as an argument and escalated into violence, leaving a gang member shot in the shoulder and back, police said.

A 32-year-old man was shot at 3:15 a.m. Sunday in the 2100 block of West North Avenue.

He got into an argument with a group of men when someone in the group pulled out a gun and shot him, according to Officer Laura Amezaga, a Chicago Police spokeswoman.

The wounded man — taken to Stroger Hospital and considered "stable" — is a documented gang member, Amezaga said.

No one is in custody for the shooting and Area North detectives are investigating.

About one block west of Wicker Park's main intersection, the 2100 block of West North Avenue is home to several apartments and condos.

Businesses on the block include Bucktown Fitness Club, the Michael Lutz Family Center, an under construction day care expected to open in August and Crespo's Food & Liquor,

"We care about everything that happens in our neighborhoods," said John Thomason, executive director of the Michael Lutz Family Center, when informed of the incident.

Mike Waicekauskas, a landlord of a 20-unit vintage apartment building on the block said he is concerned.

"That's not good for the area; it's getting to be ridiculous. We need to come up with some kind of alternative police strategy," Waicekauskas said.

In the next few months, Waicekauskas is planning to open a pizzeria in a storefront at the base of the building.

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