Reported Aurora shootout, chase may be linked to double fatal Orchard Road crash, authorities say
AURORA, Ill. (WLS) -- Police are looking into whether there's a connection between a crash in southwest suburban Aurora that killed two people Monday and reports of shots fired in the same area before the collision.
A Jaguar and a GMC Envoy, both apparently traveling at a high rate of speed, plowed into a semi on Orchard Road at the I-88 exit ramp at 11:47 a.m., the Kane County Sheriff's Office said. The vehicles struck the truck's trailer as it turned onto Orchard. The road was closed until around 5:30 p.m. Monday for crash cleanup and an investigation.
The 23-year-old man driving the Envoy died at the scene. He was identified by the sheriff's office as Christopher Shaw, of North Aurora.
The front and rear passengers of the Envoy were airlifted to a Chicago area hospital with life-threatening injuries. The front passenger, identified by the sheriff's office as 24-year-old Devonte Bouchee of North Aurora, died at the hospital late Monday afternoon. The rear passenger, a 23-year-old man from Aurora, remains hospitalized.
The Jaguar driver, 38, of Aurora, and the semi driver, 27, of Burbank, were both transported to an Aurora area hospital with minor injuries, the sheriff's office said.
Authorities said minutes before the crash, Aurora police received calls about a shootout between two cars that were chasing each other near the scene. The report of shots fired near Nantucket Road and Durham Drive near West Indian Trail came in around 11:45 a.m. Two homes were struck by bullets: one in the 1200-block of Morton Avenue and one in the 800-block of Old Indian Trail.
The sheriff's office received a report around 11:04 a.m. of gunfire exchanged between two cars chasing each other on Konen Avenue near Arlene Street in unincorporated Kane County.
No injuries were reported in either shooting. Investigators are looking into whether all three incidents were related and whether they were gang-related.
Anyone with information on the shootings should call Kane County Sheriff's Investigators at 630-444-1103 or Aurora Police Investigations at 630-256-5500 or Aurora Area Crime Stoppers at 630-892-1000.
