A West Side man is in serious condition after getting shot in Oak Park last Thursday afternoon after attending a funeral.
The 21-year-old Little Village resident was shot at a south Oak Park intersection. According to Oak Park police, five people were reportedly returning from a funeral, heading southbound on Austin Boulevard around 3 p.m., when they stopped at the northwest corner of the intersection at Roosevelt Road.
Witnesses say the driver of the van exchanged words and gang signs with a man standing at the northeast corner of the intersection. The pedestrian reportedly fired two to three shots, hitting the driver in the back of the neck. None of the four passengers were struck.
The victim was transported to Loyola Medical Center in Maywood and was in serious condition Monday afternoon, said Oak Park Police Cmdr. Clemet Harbour.
The shooter, dressed in a dark-hooded sweatshirt and jeans, reportedly fled on foot northbound on Austin. No further description was available earlier this week.
As of Monday, Harbour said police were following up on leads and trying to determine if any witnesses are suspects. Police were reportedly holding a “person of interest” Monday on battery charges. Oak Park police are in contact with police departments in Chicago, Berwyn and Cicero.
Harbour said on Tuesday that police believe they’ve narrowed the investigation down to who was the shooter, but he declined to identify the person.
He also declined to identify which gangs were reportedly involved in the shooting and could not say who flashed a gang sign first. However, Harbour said the fact that the shooting occurred in Oak Park was an unusual occurrence.
“With mobility, this stuff can flare up anywhere,” he said.
