CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Charges are pending against a man over a road rage shooting that sent another driver to the hospital in critical condition on New Year’s Eve, Chicago police said.
Sources told CBS 2 that the accused shooter is a Chicago firefighter. The Chicago Fire Department only confirmed to WBBM Newsradio that a member of its department was “involved in an incident” on New Year’s Eve, but CFD officials had no other information.
The shooting happened shortly before 8 p.m. on Sunday. Police said a 35-year-old man was driving along Foster Avenue, just west of Ashland Avenue, when he tried to make a U-turn. That’s when another man got out of a Chevrolet Tahoe and fired shots.
Police said the victim was hit in the face and taken to Illinois Masonic Hospital in critical condition. CPD shared no details about the identity of the shooter.
The victim’s father told the Chicago Sun-Times that he was still sedated and intubated as of Tuesday afternoon.
“All of our family, we’re just praying,” said the victim’s father, who didn’t want to be named for fear of retaliation. “We’re stunned by this, especially, I mean, the way it happened.”
The man’s father saw him Sunday morning, hours before he was shot.
“He said, ‘I love you guys,’ like he always does and just left,” the father said.
Choking back tears, he described his son as someone who is “a very loving person and is always happy.”
“He makes you smile, no matter what,” he said.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
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