A group of friends had just finished a late-night soccer game on the Northwest Side at Grover Cleveland Elementary School when a black SUV pulled up.
Billy Chiguil, who was already in his car about 12:10 a.m. Monday, said he could tell the people in the SUV were saying something to one of his friends.
“Next thing you know, they started shooting at us,” Chiguil said.
The shooter had gotten out of the SUV and opened fire, grazing Chiguil’s 23-year-old friend in the back.
“I told my friend, the passenger, to duck,” Chiguil said. “Then, I looked over the side to make sure my other friend was OK, and I saw he was on the ground.”
After the SUV left, the group got in their cars and drove to a nearby shopping center where they spoke to officers about what happened.
The shooting happened in the 3100 block of West Byron Street in the Irving Park neighborhood, police said. Paramedics treated the 23-year-old man at the scene, but he declined to be taken to a hospital.
A small spot of what appeared to be blood could be seen on the back of the man’s shirt as he spoke with a detective about what happened.
The back window of Chiguil’s sedan was shattered by the gunshots.
The friends had previously played soccer at the school without problems. “That’s the only soccer field that’s close,” Chiguil said.
They had decided to play late Sunday because it was when they all had time off work, but Chiguil said the friends might decide to play during a different time of day.
“I think it was just random, to be honest,” he said. “Maybe some guy, just I don’t know, just decided to scare off or I don’t know.”
Chiguil’s friend was one of six people who were shot, one fatally, in separate attacks during a 10-hour period from Sunday afternoon to early Monday.
More Top Picks Travel
The fatal shooting took place just after 8 p.m. Sunday in the Roseland neighborhood on the Far South Side. A 22-year-old man was shot in the head, and he was taken in critical condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. He was later pronounced dead at 11:03 p.m.
He was identified as Steven Reid, of the 100 block of East 126th Place, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
After being called to the 11100 block of South Michigan Avenue, police found the man outside with a gunshot wound to the head. Police did not release any additional details about the shooting. No one was in custody.
Other shootings:
— On the West Side, a 24-year-old man was seriously wounded in a drive-by shooting about 11:40 p.m. Sunday in the 1400 block of North Kildare Avenue in the West Humboldt Park neighborhood, police said. He was getting out of a car when someone inside a passing dark-colored car opened fire. He was shot in the leg and the abdomen. He was taken in serious condition to Mount Sinai Hospital.
— On the Far South Side, a 21-year-old man was shot multiple times about 8:10 p.m. in the 9500 block of South Jeffery Avenue in the Jeffery Manor neighborhood, according to police. The 21-year-old man was driving a car a man on the street when someone on the street went up to the car and shot him, police said, updating information that the 21-year-old might have fired first at the person who shot him. The 21-year-old man was shot in the arm, leg and foot and was in good condition at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn after originally being driven by a friend to Advocate Trinity Hospital. Police on Sept. 12 said that evidence indicates the man who shot the 21-year-old fired first.
— On the West Side just after 3:35 p.m., a teenage boy and a man were shot when someone in a red Chevrolet vehicle opened fire at them while they were standing on a Lawndale corner, police said. The 16-year-old boy was shot in the left leg and left hand, and the 29-year-old man was shot twice in the buttocks in the 3400 block of West 16th Street, according to police. Police originally had given the boy’s age as 15. The boy was taken via ambulance to Mount Sinai Hospital, while the man went to Mount Sinai in a private vehicle. They both were in good condition.
Check back for updates.