A 44-year-old man is fighting for his life after a gunman riding a moped shot him in the head late on Saturday night in Chicago's Little Village neighbourhood, the Chicago Police Department said. The shooting happened at about 11:12 p.m. on November 7 in the 3100 block of South Kolin Avenue, on the city's Southwest Side, and the shooter fled before officers arrived.
Source: WGN-TV (Chicago Police Department statement)
Police said the man was standing outside when an unknown offender approached him on a dark-coloured moped, opened fire and then fled in an unknown direction. Officers who were called to the block found the victim with a gunshot wound to the head.
What police say happened on South Kolin Avenue
The 3100 block of South Kolin Avenue is a residential stretch of Little Village, in the South Lawndale community area. According to the police account carried by both WGN-TV and ABC7 Chicago (WLS-TV), the victim was outdoors late on Saturday night when the rider approached. There was no report of an argument, a robbery or any exchange before the shot was fired — police released no motive, and no fuller description of the rider beyond the dark-coloured moped.
The single detail police have put out about the getaway is that the rider fled in an unknown direction. No arrest had been announced by Sunday morning, and police have not said whether surveillance video from the block has been recovered.
Victim critical at Mount Sinai Hospital
The victim was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he remained in critical condition, police said. A head wound is among the most serious injuries trauma teams treat, and 'critical condition' is the most grave category hospitals use for a living patient. Police did not release the man's name, which is standard while a victim is in critical condition and family notifications and the investigation are still under way.
The investigation: area detectives, no suspect named
Chicago police area detectives are investigating the shooting. As of the latest police information carried by local stations on Sunday, no one was in custody, no suspect description beyond the rider and the dark moped had been issued, and no motive had been stated. Detectives in cases of this kind typically canvass the block for doorbell and business camera video and witnesses — but police have not publicly confirmed any specific step in this investigation, and this report does not treat any unconfirmed step as fact.
Police have not released: the victim's name or any update on his condition beyond 'critical'; a description of the shooter; the direction the moped fled; any motive; or whether any video of the attack exists. Every one of those points remains open in the official account.
Why this matters in Little Village
Little Village is one of Chicago's best-known immigrant neighbourhoods, a dense, working-class district of shops, restaurants and two-flat homes in South Lawndale. A shooting at close to midnight on a residential block — carried out by a rider who could approach and disappear within seconds — is the kind of attack that leaves a whole street feeling exposed, because there was, on the police account so far, no confrontation that a bystander could have seen coming or avoided.
What happens next
The next official steps are a condition update on the victim from the hospital through police, and any suspect description, video release or arrest announcement from the Chicago Police Department. If a suspect is arrested, charges would be announced by police and filed through the Cook County courts. Awaaz Punjab will update this story if police release new verified information.