A 32-year-old woman was critically wounded on Thursday morning in Chicago's Brighton Park neighbourhood when someone in a gray car pulled up alongside the car she was riding in as a passenger and opened fire, Chicago police said, according to ABC7 Chicago. The shooting happened at about 9:30 a.m. in the 2400 block of West 47th Street.
Source: ABC7 Chicago
The woman was shot in the head and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she remained in critical condition, Chicago Crime Chaser and Chicago News Post also reported. Police said the vehicle carrying the victim continued east and stopped near 47th Street and Western Avenue.
Witnesses described the suspect vehicle as a gray four-door Toyota Scion with a rear bike rack, last seen fleeing southbound on Western Avenue. No arrests had been announced, and officers were reviewing surveillance camera footage from the area, according to the reports.
15th Ward Alderman Raymond Lopez said the shooting appeared to be the result of road rage and may have built up over several blocks, with surveillance video showing the victim's vehicle being closely followed seconds before the gunfire. Lopez said two children were inside the car and he did not believe they were injured; a car seat was visible inside the vehicle. He said the attack did not appear to be gang-motivated.
Lopez urged residents to be cautious around the police activity at 47th and Western and said a driver coming to a red light should not have to wonder whether the person following her will shoot. Police have asked anyone with information to contact Chicago police or submit an anonymous tip.
Brighton Park is on Chicago's Southwest Side. Chicago and its suburbs are home to a large Punjabi and wider South Asian community, and Illinois is one of the states this desk covers at city level for diaspora readers.