McDonald's in River North reopens, following closure for electrical problems found after mass shooting outside
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Nearly two weeks after it was forced to close in the wake of a mass shooting outside its doors, a McDonald's restaurant in the River North neighborhood has reopened.
The McDonald's at Chicago Avenue and State Street was forced to shut down on May 20, the day after two people were killed and seven others were wounded in a mass shooting following a fight between two groups on the street outside the restaurant.
City inspectors visited the restaurant the morning after the shooting and found hazardous electrical conditions that prompted the Buildings Department to close the store until repairs were made.
Steven Baerson, an attorney for the franchise owner, said those electrical repairs have been made, and the restaurant passed a new inspection last Friday, but the Buildings Department commissioner was on vacation, and wasn't able to immediately sign off on the inspection. Baerson said the restaurant reopened on Thursday.
"We are pleased to work with the city to have the store back up and running and we are pleased once again to be a part of the community," Baerson said.
Two men are being held without bond in the shooting.
The accused gunman, 21-year-old Jaylun Sanders, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, seven counts of attempted first-degree murder, and one count of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.
His accomplice, 20-year-old Kameron Abram, is charged with one count of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.
Prosecutors have said the shooting followed a fight between two groups in on the night of May 19. One group included Sanders, the other some of the victims, prosecutors said. A Chicago Police sergeant heard a gunshot and came on scene to find the fight in progress, but everyone fled when the sergeant arrived, prosecutors said.
Police recovered a gun that was involved in that fight from under a mailbox at 7 E. Pearson St. about a block away from the McDonald's.
Sanders said in a video-recorded statement that this earlier incident was the reason he had a problem with some of the people he is accused of shooting, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors have said surveillance video shows, around 10:41 p.m. that night, Sanders, Abram, and their group approached the entrance to the Chicago Avenue Red Line station while the two victims who were killed – 31-year-old Anthony Allen and 30-year-old Antonio Wade – and the other victims were walking on the sidewalk behind them.
Sanders got to the stairs of the Red Line station, turned around, and started shooting into the crowd, prosecutors said. In the shooting, Sanders aimed at different targets as he fired 21 shots, and then fled down the escalator.
Prosecutors said, as Sanders and Abram fled into the Red Line station, video shows Sanders handing the gun to Abram. Both were later arrested at the station while trying to get away.
