Residents living in an apartment building in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood are shaken after learning about what happened to one of their neighbors on the third floor, with gunfire erupting early Wednesday morning.
“I think that’s the most terrifying,” said resident Nia Kendall. “I am a full-time student so I’m always coming and going and so it kinda adds that fear factor.”
Kendall lives with her roommate in the apartment building near Columbia and Lakewood Avenues. She said they both heard at least three gunshots Wednesday at approximately 1 a.m.
“We were wondering like, 'what was going on,' and we got the Citizen notifications on the app,” said resident Artena Collins. “We assumed it was really nothing different than stuff that goes on every once in a while.”
Video taken by NBC 5 shows at least two bullets went through the window of the stairwell of the apartment building. Chicago police responded overnight and found a 20-year-old female victim, who police said was grazed in the back.
“I’m like 'oh my gosh, how are we going to go about figuring this out and you know how to make sure it’s a safe neighborhood for students,'” asked Collins. “Because I know almost every Loyola student lives here.”
According to a police report obtained by NBC 5, the female victim told police she was walking home when she noticed an older model red Chevrolet Blazer at the end of the block.
Local
As she got closer to her building, she said the driver revved the engine and started driving down her street. She told police she walked into her building and was making her way up the stairs when she saw a green laser pointed through the window.
Then came the gunfire.
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter here.
“That’s really scary,” said Collins. “I don’t really know how to feel about it.”
While it’s unclear if this was a random or targeted attack, Chicago police are still working to identify a suspect and determine a motive. Meanwhile, residents at the apartment building, some of them students at Loyola University said they’re glad the victim wasn’t seriously injured.
“We don’t know all of our residents super well that doesn’t take away form the compassionate and the are you okay,” said Kendall. “In a couple of ways it makes you want to get to know everybody a little bit better—just to make sure that we can all have each others back in these situations.”
Chicago police said the victim was treated at the scene by paramedics. Loyola University issued a statement to NBC 5 saying that none of their students were injured.
