Residents, police to gather Friday at Sunnyside & Laramie, where man fatally shot; 10 shooting incidents reported in 16th District this year

by BRIAN NADIG

The 16th (Jefferson Park) Police District will hold a “talk with tact” event at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 2, at Sunnyside and Laramie avenues, where a man was fatally shot on March 21. Overall through March 28 there have been 10 shooting incidents, only one of which was fatal, in the district this year compared to five shooting incidents during the same period in 2020.

On Friday evening residents will be able to meet with the district’s tactical officers and Alderman James Gardiner (45 th).

The March 21 shooting involved a 37-year-old Indiana man who died two days after suffering a gunshot wound to his head, marking the first homicide of 2021 in the district. The man was identified by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office as Brian Reyes, of the 4200 block of Northcote Avenue, East Chicago.

The district has been experiencing a higher number of homicides than usual since 2019, when 10 people were murdered, followed by the same number of homicides in 2020. The 2019 figure, which included five people who were fatally shot at the same residential building, was believed at the time to be the highest in at least four decades.

In the March 21 shooting, witnesses reported that they were walking to their car with the man when a black sedan pulled up and shots were fired at them, according to police. Eight spent shell casings were recovered from the scene, police said