The Chicago area has reported shootings on expressways in the past eight days, including one in which a man was fatally shot Friday on the Eisenhower Expressway.
The inbound lanes of the roadway were shut down between the Jane Byrne Interchange and the Old Post Office as police investigated the shooting that left a man dead, according to officials.
According to a preliminary investigation, state police troopers responded to a reported expressway shooting around 1:30 p.m. on the expressway near Canal Street. All eastbound lanes were closed for the investigation.
The male victim was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The shooting is the 112th Chicago-area expressway shooting this year - a number that far exceeds the 52 the area saw in 2019, and 43 in 2018.
Road crews have standard procedures for blocking the highways so police can search for evidence.
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Col. David Byrd, deputy director of the Illinois State Police, said the shootings have exploded in frequency and that the problem seems to be shockingly unique to Chicago.
"I've actually talked to other officials from other police agencies throughout the nation," he said. "They're dumbfounded. They don't know what to say to me... I mean their jaws drop!"
There have been 12 days this year with at least two shootings.
On two days in July, there were three.
And there were multiple weeks this year with an expressway shooting nearly every day.
"It is collateral damage of the gang wars of Chicago, and they are spilling over into the interstates," Byrd said.
While the motive behind Friday's Eisenhower shooting remains unclear, Byrd noted that many of the area's recent incidents are "collateral damage from gang wars that are occurring in the city of Chicago, and it's spilling over into the interstates."
