Charges pending in deadly shootout by Blue Line stop near University of Illinois Chicago
Charges were pending Monday afternoon in a deadly shootout near the UIC-Halsted stop CTA Blue Line stop on Saturday.
Police said two men were on the Peoria Street bridge over the Eisenhower Expressway near the UIC-Halsted stop just after 6 p.m. Saturday, when a quarrel escalated into a shootout.
A UIC student who was studying in the nearby College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs building said she said she saw two people wearing yellow CTA vests quarreling with a third man outside the station before the shooting.
She said one of the men in a CTA vest shot another man, who also appeared to have a gun.
A 61-year-old man now identified as John Flemister was shot in the head, and was taken to Stroger Hospital of Cook County — where he was pronounced dead. A 24-year-old man was taken in for questioning.
Video from the scene shows a body on the bridge and a man in a yellow vest being handcuffed.
Police would not address the fact that the man who was arrested had a yellow vest on, and the question of whether that man was a Chicago Transit Authority employee. CTA officials would not address that question or others either, and had not responded to any of CBS News Chicago's questions as of late Monday.
"Still being in the fog a couple days later about exactly what happened?" said transportation expert and DePaul University professor Joe Schwieterman. "You know, that's not what we need to do."
Schwieterman said the proximity to the train station and a college campus is a concern, but the total lack of information on whether or not a CTA employee or contractor was involved is something that stands out.
"That doesn't happen often," Schwieterman said.
UIC spokespeople deferred to Chicago Police on the matter of the shootout. Chicago Police said there were no updates to report late Monday.
