Andrew Hertzberg
Near closing time at the American Ale House at 2335 W. Howard in Rogers Park, a shooting during a birthday party left four injured, one critically, the Chicago Tribune reports.
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Tiana Harston was there for her friend’s birthday. “Somebody had to let them in from the back door,” she told the Tribune. “They never came in through the front. I know all the men who are intertwined, I know their faces.”
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When the shooting started, dozens of people rushed for the doors, nearly causing Harston to be trampled. “When we noticed there were shots, we tried to get down,” she said. “And then we were thrown down, people walked over us.”
No one knows for sure yet why the shooting started but Harston believes there was a dispute over a woman.
By the time police arrived, chairs and other discarded items were toppled over outside, caused by the rush for the exit.
The man who’s birthday it was remained anonymous, but told the Tribune, “I’m from around here, so I see this all the time.”
No arrests have been made in connection to the shooting.
While the overall homicide and shooting rates decreased from the previous year, 2017 was still a bloody year throughout Chicago.
“It’s no secret that some of our neighborhoods have felt the effects of illegally obtained firearms and the offenders who are willing to use them for far too long,” said Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson on Monday. “There’s still a lot of work ahead of us, but we’re heading in the right direction.”
Despite blisteringly cold temperatures which normally inhibit violence, there have already been three recorded homicides just one day into 2018.
RELATED: Amtrak conductor recovering from gunshot wounds: “We need better gun laws.”
A recent report revealed that rifles are increasingly becoming the popular choice of weaponry among gangs on the South and Southwest Sides.
Another major increase in crime has to do with carjackings, which have almost tripled in the last three years.
