3 Expressway Shootings Reported In Less Than 4 Hours Overnight
CHICAGO (CBS)-- Three expressway shootings were reported in less than four hours overnight.
The shootings closed parts of three different expressways.
The first happened at 10 p.m. Wednesday on the northbound Eisenhower Expressway near Kedzie. A man was shot and rushed to the hospital.
Chicago police helped Illinois State Police search the road and found shell casings.
All lanes have reopened.
Then, around 1:20 a.m. Thursday, gunshots were fired on the Jane Addams Tollway near the Belvidere Oasis. No one was hurt, but the westbound ramp to the oasis is closed as ISP investigate.
Just six minutes later, another shooting was reported on the southbound Bishop Ford Freeway near 130th Street. A car was hit by bullets, but no one inside was hurt.
All lanes have reopened on the Bishop Ford Freeway.
There have been a total of 185 expressway shootings in the Chicago area so far this year, compared to 128 in all of 2020. Thursday afternoon, Illinois State Police announced they would be increasing the number of evening and overnight patrols on the expressways by more than double beginning Friday in response to a surge in expressway shootings over the past two years.
Illinois State Police said it would increase its patrols on Chicago area expressways by 157% "during peak criminal activity times," starting in the evening hours, and continuing during the overnight hours.
"For more than 30 years, patrol of Chicago area expressways has been a unique duty of this agency and in that time, we have not previously confronted the concentrated levels of gun violence we have faced in 2020 and 2021," said Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly. "We are a statewide agency with statewide missions and responsibilities, but we must dedicate the greatest resources to the greatest need, and right now the greatest need is here, on Chicago's expressways."
To help boost patrols in the Chicago area, Illinois State Police will move troopers from other parts of the state to District Chicago.
