A woman visiting from Connecticut was shot while walking with her 11-year-old son Sunday night across the street from AMC River East 21 in Streeterville, a movie theater that has raised concerns about violence and loitering.
“It’s been shocking,” the woman told the Sun-Times in a brief interview as she headed to the airport Monday morning. She said she arrived in Chicago with her son last Wednesday for a school choir conference.
“I’m nervous. I’ve been telling myself the same story over and over,” said the woman, who asked not to be named.
The shooting happened as the 46-year-old and her son finished a pizza dinner and were walking back to their hotel about 8:10 p.m., according to a police report.
As they waited for a light to change at Illinois Street and Columbus Drive, she “heard two gunshots and saw feathers flying around from her coat,” the police report said. She had been shot in her right forearm.
The woman and her son ran south across the river to Wacker and Columbus drives, where they asked a passerby for help. That person and her son called 91, and she was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in good condition, police said.
Deborah Gershbein, president of the Streeterville Organization of Active Residents, said the AMC theater has a history of loitering. She had coordinated with the Chicago Police Department about addressing loitering of children near the theater, said.
“Just when we think we have it under control with the help of 18th District officers, this happens,” Gershbein said. “We have kids — juveniles — hanging out there and causing problems. This has been going on for some time.”
Last June, the Sun-Timed reported that the theater implemented a required guardian policy for any theater-goer under age 18.
Second Ward Ald. Brian Hopkins had called for an 8 p.m. curfew for minors downtown after a couple was attacked by a group of juveniles near Grand Avenue and McClurg Court, around the corner from the theater. Police made a show of force the following week, parking several squad cars outside the theater.
Hopkins and AMC did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
“AMC has to do a better job, and the parents of the children have to do a better job,” Gershbein said. “This is really a bad situation. People can’t go to the theater and have a safe time. We welcome everyone to Streeterville — if they can behave.”
According to the police report, officers responded to a call of shots fired outside the AMC River East 21 movie theater at 322 E. Illinois St. The officers recovered video footage from the theater’s security office and at least six fired shell casings at 342 E. Illinois St., the report said.
Detectives were also reviewing private video footage that showed a man firing a gun. He was wearing a red hooded sweatshirt with black markings on its front and on its sleeves, the report said. The gunman was about 6 feet tall, had long dreadlocks and white and black shoes, the report said. He fled in an unknown direction and was not in custody.