A motorist who allegedly caused a hit-and-run crash that left a 79-year-old man dead and his 62-year-old passenger injured fired shots while fleeing the scene, according to a police report.
No one was shot but bullets pierced a woman’s living room window and damaged a nearby building.
Around 8:15 p.m. Tuesday in the 2400 block of West Jackson Boulevard, a black 2021 Nissan Sentra going south on Western Avenue ran a red light and hit a white SUV driven by Lester Jackson, who was going west on Jackson Boulevard, police said.
The force caused Jackson, of the Homan Square neighborhood, to plow into a street light. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 9:13 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. A Wednesday autopsy was inconclusive about the cause of Jackson’s death, and further studies are pending, the medical examiner’s office said.
Meanwhile, Chicago police officers who were on the scene after a call of shots fired spotted the aftermath of the crash and realized their shots fired call was “related” to the crash, according to a police report.
A witness, a 37-year-old man, told police he saw “heavyset” man “flee” from the black Nissan after the crash and begin running south on Western Avenue while firing “multiple rounds” from a gun, according to the report.
One of the gunshots went through the living room window of a woman who lives near the scene in the 300 block of South Western Avenue. She was in her kitchen at the time and was not hurt, she said. Another round damaged a building nearby, according to a security guard from the Oakley Square apartments, also in the 300 block of South Western Avenue.
Police recovered at least four unfired bullets and two shell casings from fired bullets near the scene, according to the report.
Jackson’s daughter, Carol Hymon told ABC7 News that she is not looking forward to facing Father’s Day without him.
“Every time I think about it, it’s like I get weak. Like, it’s just not fair,” Hymon told ABC7.
“It could’ve been your parents, and you left them there like that,” Hymon told ABC7. “They said other people ran to their aid to try to get their doors opened, but he took off running. I hope they catch him.”
No one is in custody. Detectives are investigating.