A man was shot to death early Thursday outside a bar in the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side.
Marvin Lee, 30, was inside Murphy’s Lounge in the 7600 block of South Cottage Grove about 2:40 a.m. when he got into an argument with two other men, according to authorities and witnesses.
The argument spilled out onto the street, at which point one of the men pulled a gun and shot Lee in the head, authorities said.
Lee, of the 6100 block of South Michigan Avenue, was pronounced dead at the scene at 2:52 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
The crime scene stretched for half a block on Cottage Grove between 76th and 77th. The body could be seen lying in the street covered with a white sheet.
Five or six shell casings surrounded a blue clothing donation bin across the street from the bar.
One of the man’s friends, who preferred to remain anonymous, said the two of them were drinking with a group of friends in Murphy’s Lounge when they got into a fight with another group of men.
He said that his friend knew some of the men in the other group, and that the fight de-escalated before everyone left the bar. “Everything was fine…[and] they went to their car.”
Then, he said, when everyone was in their cars, the victim got out and walked over to apologize to the other men. While he was talking to them, someone in the group punched the victim. The man said he joined the fight to help his friend, and in the ensuing altercation someone from the other group started shooting.
“I heard at least five or six shots – point blank,” the man said. “And then another guy started shooting at me from across the street. After that, they hopped in their car…and took off.”
The man was a “stand up dude, hard working,” he said. “We lost a good one.”
