A 58-year-old motorist in was shot during an alleged road rage incident Monday morning, and authorities are still on the hunt for the suspected gunman.
Police officers were handing out bulletins to motorists Tuesday afternoon near the intersection of 107th Street and Archer Avenue, where the shooting allegedly took place.
“The Cook County Sheriff’s Police Department is requesting your assistance in a recent road rage incident which escalated into a victim being shot and seriously injured by an unknown offender. The flyer is being distributed to motorists in an effort to receive any information that would assist this agency with this investigation," the flyer stated.
The victim remains in stable condition at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn after being treated for a gunshot wound to the abdomen, authorities said.
Frank Bilecki, spokesperson for the Cook County Sheriff's Office, said the incident happened around 10:30 a.m. Monday as the victim was heading eastbound on 107th Street near Archer Avenue in unincorporated Lemont.
The victim claims he accidentally cut off a silver or gray pickup truck, and then pulled over to the side of the road to apologize. The driver of the truck, who had also pulled over, then approached the victim's vehicle, pulled out a gun and shot the victim, Bilecki said.
Police are still searching for the driver, who fled the scene after the shooting.
Bilecki said anyone with information should contact detectives at 708-865-4896.
My point, thought, is not this one situation we're getting zeroed in on here. There is an entire range of situations that could happen and do happen every day, in which the opportunity and means to defend oneself should be a right that is not restricted.
I'm sure all the anti-gunners will blatantly try and use this to push their "guns are bad" agenda.
1.ILLINOIS NOW IF I WAS A BAD DUDE WHERE WOULD I TRY TO MURDER RAPE BEAT STEAL ETC ETC?
It's not as if the shooter (probably, again, all speculation) approached the situation with his gun and felt confident the other guy didn't have a gun because Illinois doesn't have conceal carry. I don't buy the idea that if conceal carry were permitted, this situation would've been avoided. The guy who wanted to shoot someone because of an instance of road-rage? He's going to shoot regardless. The people with those tendencies are always going to shoot anyway. And if conceal carry were allowed, and the other guy was carrying, he still probably would've ended up getting shot, unless he lives a very paranoid life where he expects to be shot in any situation and just lives with his finger on the trigger at all times.
49 other states can not be wrong! If Miami, New York and Los Angeles can function with concealed carry without the wild west breaking out then so can Chicago. Chicago members of the state house of representatives are the only thing holding back Illinois at this time. The courts are trending in favor of the 2nd amendment and this issue will end up in front of the supreme court soon if Illinois does not get on board.
However, I am very much for math, and statistical studies, when not done by an organization with bias, show that CC does not improve crime rates or make it any less likely one will get assaulted. The argument of "if only bad guys have guns, then we are defenseless" while making sense on it's surface doesn't really play out statistically, since bad guys will STILL carry guns and most people still won't. Sure a small percentage of people will. That statistically small group is mathematically very unlikely to ever have a legal reason to pull their gun in self-defense. Anyone who thinks a CC law would have defused this situation has a very depressing worldview where everyone is paranoid about everyone and all confrontations at least begin with a veritable showdown of who has easiest access to their pistol. Me? I'll still go for the handshake and apology. It's worked for me so far and I've lived in quite a bit more "dangerous" areas than Lemont.
I just don't see CC as a deterrent to much of anything, personally. I guess we're different that way.
I found it interesting that in a previous comment, someone mentioned NYC, Miami, and LA as places where CC is allowed and the argument for was that they haven't reverted to Wild West shootouts. My obvious retort is that none of the three have magically become crime-free utopias either, have they? Even if CC were legal, there'd be NO WAY I'd carry within city limits. Chicago policeman have a very strict policy of shooting first and maybe answering questions later. People have literally been killed because they were eating a hot dog. Perhaps this is because they ketchup on the hot dog though as I'm pretty sure this is a serious crime in Cook County.
As far as giving the shooter a pass for "defending himself?" Please. If that were the case, we wouldn't be looking at a sketch of the shooter. He would have stayed on-scene.
The 2nd Amendment IS my permission slip / license. To those who believe Illinois should allow it's citizens to excercise their 2nd Amenment rights - just like all other 49 states do, please note that Jim Durkin, IL 82nd Dist. Rep (Lemont area) was 1 of only 3 republicans that voted AGAINST your right to do so!! He IS being challenged in the upcoming primary - vote him out of office!!
As far as your method of changing the law? That I most definitely approve of. I have seen other pro-CC people whose method of policy change that they support is to just break the law and challenge it in criminal court. I can't see anyone doing that except those with nothing to lose. That said, until the law is changed, no one should be carrying a gun on them unless they're a police officer.
Tell that to the numerous individuals, and otherwise law abiding citizens, that have averted grave bodily harm/dealth, by "illegally" enjoying their 2nd Amendment right here in Illinois. Just saying.
I guess everyone's first impression comes from what they would do in similar situation, so where does this "rendesvous" come from? Stopping to avoid death by auto accident seems more likely than some nefarious activity that is not reported by ANY news agency.