Chicago police have released video showing a gunman killing a man during an attempted robbery in Lincoln Square earlier this week — the third shooting in that neighborhood in four days.
The video shows Rae Park, 59, walking toward his van in the 2600 block of West Catalpa Avenue around 7 a.m. Wednesday when a light-colored car passes in the alley, slows and then stops.
The gunman, wearing a dark hoodie, gets out of the passenger side and strides toward Park, who is standing beside the open driver’s side door of his van. He confronts Park, who appears to run off as the gunman fires at him while backing away.
The gunman jumps into the car which speeds off.
Park was taken to Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston and pronounced dead, police said.
Police said the gunman was wearing a dark hoodie with a light-colored logo, dark pants and white gym shoes. Anyone with information can call Area Three detectives at 312-744-8261.
Two other shootings have occurred in Lincoln Square since last Friday, prompting police to increase patrols along the Western and Lawrence avenue corridors.
Early Monday, two teenagers were shot and wounded while driving in the 4600 block of North Western Avenue, police said. The shooting stemmed from an argument that started two blocks north, Ald. Matt Martin (47th) said in a statement.
Police don’t believe that shooting was connected to another shooting Friday evening in the same block, Martin said. In that shooting, a 26-year-old man was struck in the torso and dropped off at Swedish Hospital in fair condition, police said.
The 19th District, which stretches south of Lawrence Avenue, has seen an 18% increase in shootings so far this year, from 22 to 26 through Nov. 28, according to police statistics. Murders in the district have fallen from four to three in the same period.
The 20th District, which covers the area north of Lawrence to Peterson, has seen a 10% drop in shootings, from 10 to nine, and an even larger decrease in murders, from seven to two, according to police figures.
