CTA train operator injured by glass in shooting on Dan Ryan Expressway
A shooting on the Dan Ryan Expressway near 95th Street left a CTA Red Line train operator injured on Sunday morning.
Chicago police said at 8:49 a.m., the 46-year-old man was on a Red Line train when gunfire came from a vehicle headed north on the Dan Ryan Expressway, and the train's glass window was hit.
The Chicago Transit Authority Red Line runs in the center median of the Dan Ryan and has its terminal at 95th Street.
The man on the train, later confirmed to be the operator, was not shot but was hit by pieces of glass in the face and body and was taken to Advocate Trinity Hospital in good condition, police said.
Video from the scene showed the front windshield of a Red Line train damaged by gunfire.
"The bullets hit the motor cab of the operator's cab and shattered the window," said Pennie McCoach, president and business agent of ATU Local 308.
She says her members have felt some improvement since new safety procedures went into effect on the CTA, including more sheriff's deputies and police on the rails.
"Those are years and years and years of neglect that's been going on with the system, so it's like an onion you have to peel layers and layers," McCoach said.
A stray bullet striking a train is rare, though on Cook County expressways this year, state police data shows shootings year to date are slightly higher in 2026 than in 2025. The majority of cases this year have happened on the Eisenhower Expressway.
In response to this case, McCoach cautions there's still more to be done.
"The glass on the trains are not bulletproof. That is something that I've been advocating for," McCoach said.
Calumet Area detectives were investigating the incident Sunday afternoon. Illinois State Police were also called to the scene.
CBS News Chicago reached out to ISP about the shooting to see if there were any updates or if anyone was in custody. They said the investigation remains ongoing.
