Saturday morning gunfire between occupants of two vehicles leaves numerous shell casings along Milwaukee, Sunnyside in Jefferson Park
by BRIAN NADIG
Gunfire between the occupants of two vehicles left a trail of shell casings over multiple blocks at about 8 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 22, along commercial and residential streets in Jefferson Park.
“All my neighbors agree … there had to be 20-plus gunshots. … I ran for cover,” said a resident who saw the vehicles traveling on West Sunnyside Avenue. “We need more of a police presence.”
The man said that the fact that the shooting occurred during the daytime is very concerning and that many of his neighbors were outside talking about the gunshots shortly after the vehicles left the area.
A woman reported seeing two vehicles driving erratically near Milwaukee and Montrose avenues and that seconds later she heard gunshots, according to 16th (Jefferson Park) District police.
From there the vehicles headed west on Sunnyside to Central Avenue, according to police. The vehicles eventually traveled north and then east, as a speed camera captured images of the vehicles traveling at a high rate of speed in the 5400 block of West Lawrence Avenue, police said.
There were several 911 calls of shots being fired in the area, and officers found numerous shell casings in the 4400 block of North Milwaukee Avenue, where a storefront window was damaged, and in the 5100 to 5600 blocks of West Sunnyside avenues, police said. The shell casings represented four different types of ammunition, police said.
The vehicles involved in the gunfire were described as a gray Lexus sport utility vehicle and a black Audi sport utility vehicle, police said. A surveillance camera captured an image of a rear passenger in the Lexus wearing an orange shirt and firing shots, police said.
There are no known injuries from Saturday’s gunfire, and the incident remains under investigation, police said.
Some of the gunfire reportedly occurred about 1 ½ blocks from where a 60-year-old man recently was shot in the head near Sunnyside and Major avenues.
“I’m concerned about the uptick in crime, … and it seems to be along Sunnyside (in recent weeks),” Alderman Nicholas Sposato (38th) said.
Too often residents post on social media about a crime or suspicious activity they witnessed but don’t report it to 911, Sposato said. “If something doesn’t seem right, call it in,” he said. “We need calls for service.”
