Man, 60, killed in one of two shootings on I-55 Thursday morning

A 60-year-old man was killed and another man injured in separate shootings Thursday morning on Interstate 55 near DuSable Lake Shore Drive and on a ramp to the Kennedy Expressway.

Inbound traffic was diverted during the morning rush near Damen Avenue after the man was shot and killed on a ramp to the northbound Kennedy, Illinois State Police said.

The 60-year-old was shot around 5:40 a.m. in the inbound lanes of the Stevenson and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Walter Schroeder.

He was identified as Federico Bautista by the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

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A little over two hours earlier, a 19-year-old man was wounded in a shooting on the inbound lanes of the Stevenson near DuSable Lake Shore Drive around 3:15 a.m., state police said.

The teen was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in serious condition, Schroeder said. State police said he was expected to survive.

State police did not say if they believed the shootings were connected.

The state police asked anyone with information on the shootings to call (847) 294-4400 or email ISP.CrimeTips@Illinois.gov.

Shootings on Chicago-area expressways have more than doubled over the last year. There have been 213 reports of shootings or shots fired so far in 2021, according to state police. In the same period in 2020, there were 101 reports of gunfire.

Expressway shootings this year have already eclipsed 2020’s year-end total of 128 shootings.

State police have said they increased overnight patrols in Chicago by diverting troopers from other areas in the state.

“We have not previously confronted the concentrated levels of gun violence we have faced in 2020 and 2021,” state police director Brendan F. Kelly said in late September while announcing the increased patrols.

Officials announced earlier this year that state police would be getting $12.5 million to install high-definition cameras to help investigate and deter expressway shootings.