'It's Scary': Chicago mobile surveillance camera shot out on city's Northwest Side
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Albany Park intersection of Drake Avenue and Ainslie Street is plagued by shootings, and it recently got a new city surveillance camera.
But just a few days later now, that security camera is gone. Someone shot it.
As CBS 2's Tim McNicholas reported Thursday, a resident sent an image of the camera. It shows the city surveillance camera and a text which read: "New cameras on our corner."
The resident was excited. But just a few days later, that excitement went away - and so did the camera.
Security video from a nearby apartment building shows someone drive up to the new camera around 6 a.m. Sunday.
They shoot at the camera and then drive off. Now, less than a week after the city put that mobile camera here, they've taken it away.
Carlos Max said he hears gunshots about every week.
"It's scary, you know, because maybe they can go through your window," Max said.
And as CBS 2 reported back in January, that is exactly what happened to one of Max's neighbors. Dario Agudo said the bullet missed his 7-year-old daughter by inches.
"If that was me sitting down right here, that was going to hit my head," Agudo said.
CBS 2 verified videos of nine other shootings at the intersection from past 17 months. They were posted on YouTube by the same account that shared footage of Sunday's shooting.
The city removed the camera Wednesday, and now Agudo and Max hope it will be replaced.
"Maybe if they camera catches those guys, maybe they put them in jail." Max said.
Ald. Rossana Rodriguez (33rd), who lives a few blocks from the intersection, said late Thursday that her office has been working with the Office of Emergency Management and Communications on planning to install a permanent camera. She said those plans are still in place, and it could be installed as soon as next week.
"We want to make sure there is a camera in the area," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez also said she's been in touch residents about their concerns and with Albany Park (17th) District police, who plan to increase their presence in the area.
