CHICAGO—Two people are dead and another eight wounded following a shooting near a fast food restaurant just blocks from Chicago’s famed Magnificent Mile shopping district that sent bystanders scattering, authorities said.
The shooting happened about 10:40 p.m. Thursday near a McDonald’s on the city’s Near North Side. One person was taken into custody and a weapon was recovered, police said in statement.
A subway train that travels through the area was stopped between stations as police searched for a weapon on the rails, Chief Juan Hernandez of the city’s fire department said, according to the Chicago Tribune. Hernandez said the department evacuated passengers at about 11:30 p.m. Trains on the line were running as normal Friday, the Chicago Transit Authority said.
Police have not released details about what led to the shooting, but a witness, 18-year-old Deonna Jackson, said it appeared to stem from a fight outside the restaurant.
“When the fight first started, we were right next to them,” Jackson told the Chicago Sun-Times. ”We had to run because I didn’t want anyone to swing on me.”
The shooting comes amid a surge in deadly violence in Chicago in recent years, and follows a fatal shooting last weekend in downtown Millennium Park that killed a teen and led the city to tighten a curfew for young people. And just days earlier, a shooting in an alley near the Chicago Theatre left two innocent bystanders injured, prompting a nearby theater to cancel a performance of a show.
Calling the shooting an “outrageous act of violence,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot vowed to deploy more police officers in the area; The closest subway station is routinely crowded with people frequenting popular restaurants and stores.
“Area residents, commuters, and others simply must have the peace of mind that this highly trafficked area is safe, and it is time for more specific, concrete steps to be taken to address this area once and for all,” the mayor said in a statement.
As paramedics and officers responded Thursday, a fight erupted between two people across the street from the scene of the shooting, the Chicago Tribune reported, and some people crossed a line of police tape and argued with officers before they were moved away.
Police have not released the names or ages of the dead, or details about the circumstances of the shooting. An investigation is ongoing.
