The shooting death of a 39-year-old Chicago man Wednesday night on Interstate 57 is the first fatality in more than a dozen expressway shootings since the beginning of the year, according to Illinois State Police.
Steven Hudson was driving south about 10:25 p.m. near the Calumet Sag Channel in Blue Island when he was shot at multiple times with a large-caliber weapon, possibly a rifle, after another vehicle pulled alongside him, according to state police.
Police are searching for the shooter and have not determined a motive.
The vehicle went out of control after Hudson was hit, state police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Witnesses interviewed by investigators said they watched as his car crashed into a concrete barrier on one side of the expressway, propelling it backward, and then struck a barrier on the opposite side, state police said.
Police said the make and model of the vehicle from which the shots were fired are unknown. Police did not discount that more than one weapon could have been involved.
“Since it was so dark, no one saw any actual gunshots,” said Trooper Woodrow Montgomery, of the state police.
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Hudson was alone in the car at the time of the shooting, state police said.
Southbound lanes of I-57 were shut down from 130th Street to the canal as investigators canvassed the area.
Thirteen Cook County expressway shootings have occurred so far this year, state police said. Six of those shootings took place in January.
Megan Crepeau is a Tribune reporter. Nick Swedberg is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.