Person of interest questioned in downtown Red Line station shooting

A person of interest was in custody and being questioned Tuesday night in connection with a shooting earlier this month at a Red Line station in downtown Chicago, according to the Chicago Police Department’s Office of News Affairs.

A 23-year-old man was shot in his left arm and ankle about 7:45 p.m. Aug. 17 aboard a Howard-bound Red Line train at the Jackson Station, 230 S. State, according to police.

“Although this is a startling event, this is a very rare event,” CPD Deputy Supt. Kevin Navarro said of shootings on CTA property at a press conference.

Police said the shooting stemmed from an argument between two groups on the station’s platform. The gunman ran away after the shooting.

Detectives reviewed surveillance video that showed two groups in a brawl near the station, then the victim and his friends arriving at the platform, followed by the other group, as the train arrived, CPD spokesman Frank Giancamilli said.

A photo captured on CTA security cameras of a suspect was released days later.

Ted Pertzborn, who was a passenger on the train at the time of the shooting, said he saw the gunman fire five or six shots at the man, who was about 6 feet away from where he was sitting.

“I’m glad he was the lousiest shot in the world, because otherwise, I would have witnessed a murder,” Pertzborn told the Chicago Sun-Times.

The wounded man was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for treatment and his condition was stabilized, police said.

When the shots were fired Pertzborn ducked behind a metal wall near the conductor’s booth and called 911, he said. The wounded man’s friends bounded onto the train and put pressure on the man’s wounds, but all but one of them took off before police got there. The one friend who stayed behind was approached by a police officer, who asked the man’s name.

“He just said, ‘I didn’t see nothin’,’” Pertzborn said.

Anyone with information was asked to call police at (312) 747-8380.