Sound Bar employee killed, another man wounded in River North shooting

A 28-year-old employee of Sound Bar was killed and another man injured when a gunman fired shots during a street fight outside the River North nightclub early Friday.

Less than 24 hours later, the nightclub announced it would be “voluntarily closing” for the weekend.

Before the deadly shooting, about 15 people began brawling near the mouth of an alley in the 600 block of North Franklin, according to Chicago police.

A male in the crowd pulled out a handgun and fired several rounds, striking Thurman Bailey, 28, and a 58-year-old man, police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.

Bailey died about 1 a.m. after being taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital with multiple gunshot wounds, police said. He lived in the Bronzeville neighborhood.

The older man brought himself to the same hospital with bullet fragments in his leg and arm, police said. He is expected to survive.

Police spokesman Hector Alfaro said the 28-year-old worked at the nightclub, while the 58-year-old “was associated with the business.”

No one has been arrested, though officers were combing through “plenty” of surveillance footage, Alfaro said.

The suspect is believed to be a male wearing a green puffy jacket and a black hat, police said.

After the shooting, officers spilled out underneath the Brown and Purple Line CTA tracks on Franklin Street to roll out crime scene tape and plop down evidence markers.

About 10 shell casings were found scattered near the Ontario and Franklin intersection, located in one of the city’s heavily trafficked entertainment districts. Dozens of young adults filed out of the nightclub as it appeared to be shutting down early.

Despite the affluence in the area, the blocks surrounding Sound Bar are not without violence.

Police records show that, in the last five years, three nonfatal shootings have occurred within a block of Sound Bar. More than 230 other batteries were reported in the area in the same time, with 24 assaults reported to police.

In May 2018, a shooting on the same block as Sound Bar left a 35-year-old man wounded.

Contributing: Tyler LaRiviere