Sixteen people have been shot and four have been killed on the North Side of the city in the last two years. There have been a huge number of shootouts and attempted shootouts in the same block, but no one was injured.
Could you figure out what block we’re talking about? In Rogers Park, in the 1600 block of West Howard, right next to the Howard CTA station.
Even though that may come as a surprise, no one has ever been charged with any of those murders and shootings. Residents and shop owners in the area blame a thriving, open 24 hours a day drug market for these crimes.
When there were three shootings on the same block not long ago, we asked the local alderman’s office what they and the police were doing to stop it. The office of Ald. Maria Hadden didn’t bother to get back to us.
Still, there is some progress to report. A man has been charged with shooting at a group of people on the block last month. The crime was caught on video, and thankfully no one was hurt.
The event took place on October 6 at 3:34 a.m. There are three people standing on the north side of Howard Street in the video, and there are more people standing on the south side.
One of the men makes a big hand motion as he walks toward the other group across the street. As he gets closer, he seems to talk to someone from the other group. After that, things go wrong.
The man he looked like he was talking to pulls out a gun and starts shooting. As more shots are fired, the crowd spreads out.
The man, who was crossing the street while making strange hand movements, fell to the sidewalk as he tried to get away. He gets up, but then trips and falls again as the gunman runs north on Paulina.
Now, the police say they know who fired those shots in that video: Brandon Henry, 39 years old.
Police said in a complaint that Henry “fired multiple rounds in the direction of a group of people on the public way” early that morning. He was charged with aggravated discharge of a firearm, and Judge William Fahy put him in jail until his trial.
According to court records, Henry was also arrested on October 7, the day after the police say he fired shots. In the 1600 block of West Howard, that arrest also took place.
A tactical team from the Chicago police saw Henry what they thought were hand-to-hand drug deals, according to his arrest report.
They said he had plastic bags of cannabis and gummies that were thought to be spiked with psilocybin in his satchel and bags of what they thought was crack in his waistband. The charges have not been made yet.
The most recent shooting on the block that hurt someone happened on October 23. Two people were hurt and one man was killed.
Like almost all the other crimes, it was caught on video (but please be careful). On June 25, eight days after the first murder at the corner of Howard and Paulina, there was another one right in the middle of the traffic lanes. This time, the murder was more like an execution.
Our search turned up no one else charged with firing a gun in public on that block, even though a lot of things have happened there. No one has been charged with murder. None of the shootings that didn’t kill anyone, either.
On November 16, 2018, someone came very close to being charged with one of the shootings. Authorities say the gunman shot and killed a 30-year-old man during a fight. The gunman stayed at the scene and talked freely with police.
He shot someone, but prosecutors didn’t charge him because they said he did it in self-defense. But they did charge him with having a gun without a permit.
