Homeless bullets from a robbery during a drug deal injured two people at Loop over the weekend, including a longtime stage attendant who had to work on the Moulin Rouge! This was later canceled, police and witnesses said.
After the shooting at 5 pm in the alley in block 100 on North Wabash Street, the Sunday evening performance of the musical at the nearby Nederlander Theater was canceled.
Ryan Bush, a scene employee at Nederlander, said in an interview with the Sun-Times on Monday that he was with his colleague when the “scary” incident took place.
“My friend ended up in a crossfire,” he said.
Police said both victims were “unforeseen targets” of the shooting, which apparently stemmed from a drug deal between two groups of people in nearby Taco Bell, police said. A dispute broke out and someone “hinted at a weapon” and robbed the others, officials said.
The victims of this robbery then chased the offenders in an alley near the Chicago Theater.
“The people who were robbed took out firearms and started firing at people who took something from them,” Detective Chief Brendan Deehan told a news conference Monday.
Bush said he and his colleague had gone out to dinner between the matinee and evening performances at Nederlander when they heard gunfire and bent down.
“There were two boys running down the alley, running west to State Street, and someone was shooting at them,” he told the Sun-Times.
But Bush’s comrade-in-arms, 55, from Elmhurst, could not avoid the bullets and was hit in the right ear, police said. Bush said the bullet also pierced his friend’s neck.
Another witness, a bartender at the Chicago Theater, also told police he saw three men fleeing down the alley when he heard a pair of pops, causing the bartender to hide among the trash cans, according to reports. Then he saw someone shoot twice with a pistol.
The second shot, a 27-year-old man from the Gold Coast, was found with a wound to his arm, reports said. He told police he was walking with his girlfriend when he was hit.
Both victims were taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in good condition, police said. None of them saw the shooter, who later dropped his jacket near the Red Line station on the state / lake, according to a police report.
There are no reports of arrests. Dihan told reporters that police were watching videos of “both groups” going.
Bush, a longtime stage worker living in Northwest Indiana, said he was relieved to receive a text message from his colleague early Monday saying he was “doing better” after being discharged from Northwest Indiana. part.
“This is my number one there. He’s a great man, a screenwriter, he’s been in business for more than 30 years, “Bush said, adding that his colleague is a grandfather,” he just wants to retire. “
The shooting was not explicitly cited as the reason for the cancellation of Sunday night’s performance of “Moulin Rouge!” An official statement attributed it to “embarrassment”.
Police said they had sent additional resources to the Theater District.
“We will continue to monitor the area and work closely with the Cook County Sheriff’s Police to improve security in our theater area,” the department said in a statement.
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