3 shootings reported on Chicago area expressways in 24 hours
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Illinois State Police are investigating three shootings on Chicago area expressways in less than 24 hours.
The first of the three happened Sunday evening on the Dan Ryan Expressway, which historically has seen the most shootings of any Chicago area expressway, including this year.
Around 5:15 p.m., a driver was headed south on the Dan Ryan between Roosevelt Road and 18th Street when someone in another vehicle began shooting. No one was hurt, but the shooting forced police to divert traffic, causing backups in the downtown area for more than three hours before all lanes of the Dan Ryan reopened.
About 12 hours later, a driver was hurt in a shooting on the Bishop Ford Freeway just before 5:15 a.m. Monday, a driver was rushed to the hospital after they were shot in the northbound lanes of the Bishop Ford near Michigan Avenue.
The victim's injuries were not life-threatening.
A little more than an hour later, Illinois State Police responded to a third shooting on the Tri-State Tollway near Bridgeview. No one was hurt.
For years, CBS News Chicago has tracked expressway shootings in the Chicago area and concerns regarding low arrests, but there has been a decline in expressway shootings in the last few years.
So far, there have been 56 shootings on Chicago area expressways this year—a significant decrease from 109 in 2021, when expressway shootings reached an all-time high.
Illinois State Police said license plate readers have helped significantly by helping identify a witness or person involved in a shooting 82% of the time this year – 100% of the time for fatal shootings.
While the number of expressway shootings has gone down, the number of arrests by Illinois State Police for crime on the expressways has gone up, with 288 arrests in 2021, compared to 1,249 arrests this year.
A spokesperson for Illinois State Police said all three of the shootings in the past 24 hours remained under investigation as of Monday afternoon.