CHICAGO — A security guard who was among four people wounded in a shootout in University Village is questioning why charges haven’t been filed in the shooting.
The shooting happened around 10:45 p.m. Monday in the 1000 block of West 14th Street. Police said officers responded to the scene and found multiple people shot.
Further police investigation revealed a 21-year-old man and a 23-year-old man were exchanging gunfire with a 19-year-old man.
According to police, a 37-year-old security officer, later identified as Berrie McCormick, who was on the premises drew his weapon and discharged it at one of the men who was shooting in his direction. McCormick was shot in the arm and suffered a graze wound to the head.
He was transported to the University of Illinois Medical Center in good condition.
The 19-year-old was shot multiple times in the chest and transported to Stroger Hospital in critical condition. The 21-year-old was shot in the thigh and transported to Stroger Hospital in good condition. The 23-year-old was shot in the thigh and knee and was also transported to Stroger in good condition.
According to a state’s attorney’s office official who spoke with the Chicago Sun-Times, it is far from clear what happened that night though—and there’s a possibility two unarmed men may have been shot.
The official told the Sun-Times a video of the incident shows a group of men on the street, but they appear to be unarmed and walking toward a car in a lot when gunfire erupted and they scatter for cover.
McCormick “most likely heard the gunshots and observed [the group] running through the lot,” the official told the Sun-Times, adding that McCormick “mistakenly believed they had just fired at him.”
Police still sought to charge the two men who were wounded in the incident, but the state’s attorney’s office rejected the charges, citing the video as the reason behind the rejection.
“The theory is that there was someone else lying in wait who fired upon them [the group of men], and they are running for cover when the security guard sees them and starts shooting towards them,” the official told the Sun-Times.
Tandra Simonton, a spokeswoman for the state’s attorney’s office, said in a statement, “After a thorough review of the information presented to us by police, we concluded that the evidence was insufficient to meet our burden of proof to file charges at this time and the police agreed with this decision.”
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McCormick, an Afghanistan war veteran, said he is still processing what happened to him.
“I wasn’t ever injured in combat, but I’m injured here [and] it’s a little shocking,” McCormick said. “But at the end of the day, I’m alive. God was by my side because it could have went a different way.”
The three men shot in the incident are in custody and multiple weapons were recovered, but no charges were filed.