CHICAGO (CBS) — A man was shot and left in critical condition Tuesday night on a CTA Red Line train at the 63rd Street stop.
As CBS 2’s Charlie De Mar reported, the man was in a train car at 8:33 p.m. when he got into a quarrel with four other men, one of whom took out a gun and shot him, police said.
The victim was shot twice in the abdomen and was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition, police said.
No one was in custody late Tuesday. Area One detectives are investigating.
The Chicago Transit Authority said there were no trains running at all between Roosevelt and 95th due to the police investigation into the shooting.
Video from the platform showed the train where the shooting happened halted at the 63rd Street station with crime tape centered on one of the cars. Numerous Chicago Police officers and investigators were seen working the scene.
Meanwhile, minutes after the shooting, an Illinois State Police trooper was involved in an accident with a Chevrolet Malibu at the Dan Ryan and Garfield Boulevard while responding to a call. The trooper suffered minor injuries, but an ambulance was sent to check the trooper out. It was not clear whether this incident was connected to the shooting on the Dan Ryan or the investigation into it.
We have reported extensively in recent weeks and months about violent crime on CTA trains and platforms. Last week, the CTA announced a new plan to keep passengers safe – increasing the number of security guards stationed on the Red and Blue Lines, while cracking down on all types of “conduct issues.”
But Amalgamated Transit Union President for Trains Eric Dixon called the plan “just a Band-Aid being put on a bullet wound.” Dixon is pushing CTA to ditch private guards for its own police, claiming current CPD officers helping out are working overtime. He says train operators – some who get attacked – should also have conductors throughout CTA rail cars.
Source: ChicagoCBS