WEST TOWN — Police are investigating a shooting in West Town earlier this week after a group of men in a car shot at another car while stopped at a traffic light.
The passengers of the targeted car, ages 27 and 28, said they were in an Uber driver's car, but that couldn't be immediately confirmed by authorities. Police declined to comment and Uber didn't return a message Thursday afternoon.
The shooting happened aound 1 a.m. Monday around at Western and Potomac avenues, according to Chicago Police and the passengers.
The car occupied by the 50-year-old Uber driver and the two passengers was stopped at a traffic light when a gold car occupied by 4-5 men pulled up alongside them, according to a Chicago Ppolice spokesman and the passengers, who both wished to remain anonymous for safety reasons.
The Uber driver told police he saw the men in the gold car throwing gang signs before they heard a loud noise, the passengers said.
"There were absolutely no words exchanged. We had our windows rolled up. No cursing or laughing," the 27-year-old passenger said.
He said he and his friend were coming home from a night at the bars. The Uber driver had agreed to stop at a liquor store and was on the way when the gold car pulled up alongside them someone inside fired a single shot toward their car, he said.
"That thing sounded like a cannon going off," he said.
"As soon as that shot rang out, our driver jammed on the gas. All three of us dropped in our seats. When the Uber driver ducked down, his seat hurt him. It made him think that he got shot so we were shining our phone lights on him."
The three men drove directly to the Shakespeare Police District station to file a report, which is where officers found a puncture consistent with a bullet in the right rear tire.
The passengers, who have been friends for 14 years, said they were just visiting the city. While they grew up in the city together, they have both since moved — one to North Dakota and the other to central Illinois.
"We're not associated with gangs. We've never dealt with [anything] like this," the 28-year-old said, adding that the men must've either mistook them for other people or shot randomly.
Both said the incident didn't change their opinion of Chicago. In fact, the 28-year-old passenger said he called a real estate agent the next day to invest in property in Chicago.
"I think our nerves were a little bit fired up, but it really hasn't shaken my love for this city," he said. "I think it tested my love for Chicago. If I can get shot at and still want to live here, I might as well buy some [property] here."
The 27-year-old, who visits Chicago about four times a year, said the shooting made him more "aware of how often people are shot in the city, regardless of who they are or what they are doing."
"There is simply an issue in the city that everyone in every neighborhood should be concerned about," he said.
Police said no one is in custody for the shooting.
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