Tow truck driver among two men killed in shootout on Chicago's South Side

CHICAGO (CBS) — Two men are dead after what neighbors said was a shootout over an attempted tow in the Roseland neighborhood Wednesday morning.

Neighbors on the 11300 block of South Lowe Avenue said a man on their block started shooting at a tow truck driver who came to tow his car early Wednesday morning, They said the tow truck driver was just trying to do his job, and died doing it.

The man whose car was about to be towed—a neighbor on the block—was also killed.

"I woke up to screaming and yelling," said a woman who lives on the block, and who asked that her identity be concealed.

The shooting happened right outside her window.

"I wasn't really understanding why it went that far," she said.

Around 2:30 a.m., police received a call about two men shot on the block—the 59-year-old man who was operating the tow truck, and the 45-year-old man who owned the car he was trying to tow.

The two shot at each other. The tow truck driver was shot in the head and was pronounced dead at the scene, while the other man was shot multiple times and died at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

The neighbor's father called 911.

"I heard a warning shot, and then I heard two shots, and then I heard like four shots after that," the neighbor said.

She said her neighbor witnessed his car about to be towed, and did everything he could to keep that from happening.

"It was just him trying to get him away from the car," the neighbor said. "He just really didn't want his car towed."

On the side of the truck was printed, "T&C Towing," a company CBS News Chicago confirmed was subcontracted by another company called United Road Towing—which was part of a group contracted by the City of Chicago to tow vehicles as of 2022.

CBS News Chicago has learned someone came by to put a boot on the vehicle before T&C came to tow it.

Loved ones who came to the scene said the owner of the tow truck was working a late shift overnight. They were distraught to find out that their relative had been shot and killed.

CBS News Chicago is not releasing the person's name, so as to allow for the rest of the family to hear the news.

"I can't stop looking at the spot where the man was laying, because I physically, like, saw his body on the ground," the neighbor said.

Neighbors late Wednesday were left trying to understand how an attempted tow could leave two men dead.

"I had my time to cry," the neighbor said. "Like, I didn't know the man, but just to see you this man just like—he didn't have to die. He didn't have to."

No one else was injured in the shooting.

Calumet Area detectives are investigating.