Chicago shooting in Chinatown outside Haines Elementary School kills man, 71, Chicago police say
'We turned off all the lights, we closed the blinds,' said one student
CHICAGO (WLS) -- A 71-year-old man was shot and killed just steps from a Chicago Public Schools elementary school in Chinatown Tuesday afternoon.
More than a dozen bullet casings mark the scene in the 200-block of West 23rd Place, near John C. Haines Elementary School.
Police said around 12:30 p.m., someone driving a silver car fired out the window at a man on the sidewalk.
"They shot him from the car and got out and did it even more," said Justin Tan, who lives nearby. "To me, that sounds like an execution."
Police said the gunman then drove off and left the 71-year-old dying on the street.
Just steps away, children at the elementary school saw and heard it all.
"I was in the classroom talking to my teacher. I heard like five gunshots," said Haines student Demiyah Johnson. "We turned off all the lights, we closed the blinds, some students who I know, some were crying, others were traumatized some were even texting their parents what happened."
Tan didn't see or hear the shooting but he heard what came after.
"I heard the screams from when the cops told the family about what happened, the horrible news, and it hit me because that's someone's family member that just died," Tan said.
Police arrested a fleeing driver they believed to be the gunman along the Kennedy Expressway near Jackson. An investigation by Area One detectives is ongoing. They are looking at home security camera footage from cameras installed by a Chinatown community group, one of which may have captured the murder.
According to Tan, crime has increased in the neighborhood. "It's everyday now. Almost, almost," he said.
Investigators have not said what prompted the shooting.
