Just past the midpoint of 2021, the Chicago area is about to surpass the total number of expressway shootings for all of 2020.
As of Tuesday morning, the Illinois State Police had been called to 117 expressway shootings. That is more than twice the 51 shootings at this same time last year. And just short of the 128 for the entire year of 2020.
The menace of expressway shootings has been a vexing one for the Illinois State Police, who have previously noted to NBC 5 that the problem is especially severe here in comparison to other states.
And arrests are rare. Contrary to popular belief, expressway gunfire in Chicago is not typically spawned by road rage. Would-be victims often know their assailants and frequently refuse to cooperate with police.
Investigators did make an arrest in a Stevenson Expressway shooting this week. That man, 31-year-old Jourdan Armstrong of Joliet, faces two counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm and three counts of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon after a shooting on I-55 near County Line Road in Burr Ridge on July 4.
According to an ISP statement, troopers on patrol spotted the suspect's vehicle and followed it to a local business.
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"Troopers conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle and arrested the driver, later identified as Armstrong," the statement said. "Armstrong, a convicted felon, was in possession of multiple firearms and ammunition at the time of the arrest."
The Illinois State Police said the "victim vehicle and occupants did not sustain any damage as a result of the gunfire."
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Armstrong is due in court on Wednesday. He is being held on $150,000 bond.
