After Latest Shooting In Subway Downtown, Worries On The Rise About Crime On CTA At All Times Of Day
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago Police said Monday afternoon they have good leads in their investigation of an overnight shooting that killed one man and wounded two others in a passageway between two CTA Loop subway stations.
As CBS 2's Jim Williams reported, riders are unnerved by rising crime on Chicago Transit Authority property – and it's happening at all different times of day.
This latest shooting happened overnight and underground.
Rocky Hjelmgren, a college sophomore, takes CTA trains and buses day and night. He is always vigilant.
"I text my parents every single time I'm getting on and off the bus or train," she said. "I've also shared my location so they're aware of where I am."
Hjelmgren talked with CBS 2's Williams outside the CTA's Jackson Red Line station on State Street, just yards from the underground pedestrian tunnel that connects the Red and Blue lines.
In that tunnel just after 2 a.m. Monday, gunfire killed one man and wounded two others. The gunman got away.
According to police, one of the men died at the scene after he was shot in the abdomen and chest.
The other man was shot in the head and arm and remains in critical condition.
A 19-year-old woman was also shot and police told CBS 2 she was with the two men and may have not been the intended target.
It represented yet another high-profile violent crime on the CTA.
"You just have to be careful; try not to be by yourself late," said Ida Ziewacz. "But I know things happen all the time, every day."
Two weeks ago Tuesday, street musician Michael "Machete Mike" Malinowski was stabbed while playing his guitar on the Jackson Red Line station. That happened in the early afternoon, at 1:35 p.m.
The very next day, at 10:45 a.m., a man was shot in the back during a robbery on a Blue Line train at the UIC-Halsted stop, near the University of Illinois at Chicago campus.
Serious crimes on the CTA trains and stations have jumped dramatically in recent years – from 1,187 in 2015, climbing steadily to 2,345 last year.
There are cameras in the pedestrian tunnel where the overnight shooting happened, but police as of early Monday evening had not yet released photos.
Detectives were investigating late Monday, a CPD spokeswoman told us. If they need the public's help finding the gunman, the photos will be released.
For Hjelmgren, it is another reminder to be alert.
"It's like horrifying to be a young woman out at night, and having to be, you know, out in the dark on public transportation," she said. "It's just ridiculous."
Police are adding 50 officers to CTA trains and platforms next month.
Investigators believe the overnight shooting here was preceded by a quarrel among three people.