Uber passenger killed in drive-by shooting on South Side

An Uber passenger was killed when he was shot in the head and neck early Monday in the Grand Crossing neighborhood on the South Side.

Patrick D. George, 34, was sitting in the back seat of a blue car shortly after 2 a.m. when a light-colored SUV pulled up and and someone in that vehicle opened fire in the 7400 block of South Stony Island Avenue, Chicago Police and the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office said.

George, who lived in the South Shore neighborhood, was taken to Jackson Park Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 2:10 a.m., authorities said.

Police recovered shell casings from the scene of the shooting near a gas station and a Jewel-Osco. The Uber driver apparently drove the wounded passenger to the emergency room.

The blue car’s rear window was shot out. The car could be seen at the hospital under police guard Monday morning.

No one was in custody as Area South detectives investigated. They were reviewing surveillance video to identify the SUV, although a motive for the shooting was not immediately known, police said.

Kayla Whaling, an Uber spokeswoman, issued a statement Monday afternoon offering condolences.

“We are saddened to hear of this horrifying incident and stand ready to provide any information to police for their investigation,” Whaling said in a statement. “We extend our thoughts to all those who are mourning the loss of their loved one.”

On April 11, 2017, a female Uber driver was wounded in the leg in the Armour Square neighborhood on the South Side in a similar drive-by shooting. The passenger was unharmed in that incident.