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Gunfire erupted around 11 p.m. near the 300 block of West Chicago Avenue, outside Artis Restaurant and Lounge, as well as a Dunkin’ Donuts, which had a front window shot out. A number of clubs and businesses are located in that area, and witnesses say they heard rapid fire and a car racing out of the area.
“Traumatizing. I’m just shook,” one female witness said.
Pastor Donovan Price said the scene was “absolute chaos.”
“From people screaming, to blood on the streets, to people laying on the streets,” he said. “Just a massive police presence.
“Just horrific. More than I’ve ever seen.”
Cell phone video obtained by WGN News captured the chaotic scene moments after the mass shooting.
A worker at the nightclub told WGN it was holding an album release party for a Chicago rapper named Mello Buckzz, whose real name is Melanie Doyle, on Wednesday night. The club was closing when the shooting happened, so a large group of people were heading outside.
Roger Tanner was in a cab at Chicago and Franklin late Wednesday night moments after the shots were fired.
“It was a chaotic scene up here last night,” he said Thursday morning. “I noticed the police officers were running to the ambulance, and (an officer) had (a) young lady on his shoulder, trying to get her some help.
“She was bleeding.”
Artis Restaurant and Lounge, which just opened in April, released a statement Thursday morning, which reads:
“Last night, an act of violence occurred within the vicinity of our restaurant — and it shook us deeply.
“Artis was created as a safe space. A space where Black, Brown, Queer, and allied communities could gather, be celebrated, and feel at home in River North. We’ve always led with that mission. And what happened last night disrupted it in the most painful way.
“Our hearts are with the victims and their loved ones.”
Police Supt. Larry Snelling said a summary closure for the venue has been issued.
Police: Car flees from scene
Police say a preliminary investigation indicates shots were fired from a dark-colored car that drove past the nightclub minutes after 11 p.m. Police said they recovered two different types of shell casings, indicating there may have been more than one shooter.
The car then immediately fled the scene, according to police, who say nobody is yet in custody.
The victims of the shooting were rushed to several different area hospitals. Witnesses told WGN some police officers didn’t even wait for ambulances to get there and started driving victims to hospitals themselves.
“I heard a lot of gunfire, and then the next thing you know, there was a whole bunch of police officers driving by fast, (and) ambulances, fire and rescue,” a witness named Deshaun said.
According to police, all 18 shooting victims ranged in age from 21 to 32, five of them men and 13 of them women.
A 23-year-old man, a 25-year-old man, a 26-year-old woman and a 27-year-old woman were pronounced dead, police said. Family identified one of the victims as 26-year-old Taylor Walker. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office publicly identified the others as Leon Andrew Henry, 25, Devonte Terrell Williamson, 23, and Aviance King, 27.
Among the other 14 people shot, at least three were discharged from area hospitals by early Thursday evening.
Police said the incident is believed to have been an isolated event, adding that the space where the crowd had gathered nearby had been rented out for a private event.
Family, friends gather at hospital
Family and friends gathered outside Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Streeterville overnight, where some of the shooting victims were taken and two were pronounced dead. Family and friends told WGN some of the victims transported themselves to the hospital, while others managed to find another way.
Arielle, a woman who works at Artis Restaurant and Lounge, said she could tell something bad had happened just by looking at the face of someone who was at the scene.
“I was downstairs doing dishes when I heard this ruckus,” Arielle said. “The first face that came downstairs, when I saw that face, I literally grabbed the phone. … I know faces, I know energy. I could tell something was up.”
“The minute I saw that face, I grabbed the phone. I’m the first one to call 911,” she said.
‘We will not rest’
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Snelling held a press conference around noon on Thursday, where they discussed the mass shooting and the department’s plan to keep residents safe over the holiday weekend.
During the press conference, the mayor called the deadly shooting “senseless.”
“We stand here today, certainly frustrated and angered by this senseless and cowardly act of violence,” Johnson said, further stressing that police would not rest until the shooter was located.
“Shootings like these are a tragic reminder of how far we still have to go as a city,” Johnson said. “Shooting into a crowd of people is, it’s not the best of who we are as a city. It’s unacceptable and we will not stand for that in the City of Chicago. … We are frustrated, but we are also grieving. We will not rest until there is full accountability.”
Both Johnson and Snelling and called on residents with information on the deadly shooting to come forward.
“This wasn’t some random shooting where someone just decided they were going to shoot at this particular group of people, obviously there’s a motive there,” Snelling said.
That motive remains unclear, but detectives are investigating the possibility it was gang related.
The men called on residents to take a stand against violence in the city.
“It is going to take all of us to stand together against violence. That is why we say that the job of keeping our city safe is not finished, but furthermore, we are still determined, more determined now than ever, to not allow these events to take us backwards,” Johnson said. “We can not allow these types of acts of violence to escalate or be normalized.”
Johnson also said services were being provided to victims and their family members.
“Our Chicago police department is working with the families and victim services are being provided, and resources to the families of these victims,” the mayor said.
Thursday’s full news conference can be viewed in the video player below.
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