Truck Driver Shot In Face While Driving On Chicago Expressway

by Jana Ritter - Published: 5/20/2016

Yet another truck driver has been shot. Fortunately, the 68-year-old driver survived the shooting but was seriously injured with a gun shot wound to the face and was last reported to be in critical condition.

                                                           

The incident occurred Thursday evening at around 11:45 pm on the Dan Ryan Expressway near 95th Street in Chicago. The semi driver was traveling north on the expressway, when a gunshot shattered the driver’s side window and struck him in the face. Motorists then noticed the tractor-trailer weaving from left to right and many called 911 asking for immediate help. The truck driver was able to bring the semi to a stop and when emergency responders arrived at the scene they found the driver in his cab, stopped in the middle of the expressway. He was rushed to Advocate Christ Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition. Fortunately, he is expected to survive and there was no one else in the vehicle with him.

                                                          

Illinois state police troopers immediately shut down the northbound lanes of the expressway between 87th and 95th for several hours and began the difficult job of investigating the random shooting. According to police, investigators found at least one shell casing at the scene but they haven’t confirmed any details about what led to the shooting or any description of the suspect or the suspect’s vehicle. However, it seems to be a situation eerily similar to the string of Arizona freeway shootings occurring over several weeks late last summer. Authorities say this is the second shooting on a Chicago expressway in five days and more than a dozen have occurred this year alone. 

On Sunday, a man and a woman were found shot to death inside their SUV on the Kennedy Expressway but the case was ruled as a murder-suicide. However, a week before that a 35-year-old man was shot and killed while he was driving his car near Montrose Avenue. Chicago and Illinois police said they don’t have the exact number of expressway shootings this year, but they now estimate the count to be about 20. In February, the state police had announced plans to increase uniformed patrols, video and aircraft surveillance, and undercover officers on expressways.

But when news broke Friday, nearby residents couldn’t believe they were hearing about yet another shooting occurring on the expressway. “It’s dumb. Senseless. You gonna shoot somebody cause they either cut you off or something. Then you’re gonna kill somebody else and more than one person is gonna die. It’s just dumb,” a local resident said.

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