CHICAGO — For the second time Thursday, shots rang out on the Eisenhower Expy., leaving a man dead just hours after another man was slain on the West Side expressway.
The first shooting happened at 5:30 a.m. when a man was killed and a woman wounded while driving on the Eisenhower near Laramie Avenue, State Police said.
The second fatal shooting happened about noon, when a man in a car was shot on the Eisenhower near Central Avenue, according to a State Police news release. The driver of the car took the man to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The driver was not wounded.
The slain man was identified as 23-year-old Devon Almon by the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.
Cook County Comm. Richard Boykin, whose West Side district includes a portion of the Eisenhower Expy., said the city, state and federal governments need to pitch in to reduce gun violence in Chicago. He said city streets and roads "should afford all citizens equally safe passage."
"How much longer can the citizens of Chicago expect to be terrorized?" Boykin said in a statement. "I am, quite simply, incensed by the lack of urgency shown toward this crisis by our city and state governments."
The ramp from the eastbound Eisenhower to Central Avenue was closed as officers investigated, State Police said.
The first shooting left Johnathon Ortiz, a rapper who went by the name "John Doe," dead. Investigators shut down the outbound Ike for hours to look for shell casings and other evidence.
The second shooting was the 41st shooting on a Chicago area expressway since Jan. 1. There were 39 similar shootings in all of 2015.
Gov. Bruce Rauner on Thursday called shootings on expressways "very unfortunate."
He said that they are not surprising, given the increase in gun violence the city is experiencing.
Rauner said the conflicts generally stem in neighborhoods and city streets before being escalated on expressways.
"It's only natural it would spill over," Rauner said.
The governor commended State Police for their response to the problem, saying they have increased expressway surveillance and undercover work. State Police launched the Chicago Expressway Anti-Violence Surge in February.
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