SandyMaloneChicago – A masked man shot three people in a Chicago Starbucks Thursday night, leaving one man dead.
A 12 year old and another adult male were shot, and are both in serious, but stable, condition in area hospitals.
Police believe the three victims knew each other, and their assailant, Chicago Police Commander Marc Buslik told the media during a press conference shortly after the shootings occurred.
“It appears our deceased victim had some kind of interaction, possibly a drug transaction, on the sidewalk on Wilson, just east of Broadway,” the commander of the 19th District said.
“At some point the deceased victim turned, ran into the Starbucks restaurant, chased by the offender. The offender opened fire and struck our deceased victim, and another adult, and a juvenile, who were also in the Starbucks,” he said.
All the action took place in what would be considered the back section of the Starbucks, Cmdr. Buslik said.
Witness Bryan Stroud, 52, told the Chicago Tribune he had just left the Starbucks to say hello to a friend when the shooting occurred.
He said they saw a man wearing a black mask enter the coffee shop and unload a .22-caliber handgun.
“He walked right in the store and just shot three people,” Stroud said. “We were a little afraid. He could’ve come out and started shooting the crowd. Somebody went off the deep end.”
People in the store picked up the 12-year-old boy who’d been shot and carried him out to the street, where they asked a passing vehicle to take him to the hospital.
“They said, ‘He’s only a baby! Get him to Weiss!'” Stroud told the Chicago Tribune.
Cmdr. Buslik described the shooter as a black man, in dark clothing, wearing a facemask.
After shooting his three victims, the suspect fled southbound on Broadway, he said.
“We don’t know who the suspect is. I can tell you as far as we can tell this is not a random act,” Cmdr. Buslik said.
However, they do not believe the surviving victims were actual targets of the shooter.
“We believe they were just hit by the gunfire as he was shooting at the deceased,” he said.
It was unknown if any of the victims are related to one another.