Chicago Skyway murder-suicide near 87th Street toll plaza under investigation

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The eastbound Chicago Skyway reopened Wednesday morning near the 87th Street toll plaza after two people were found shot to death. Police were investigating the shooting as a murder-suicide.

A 30-year-old man and a 49-year-old woman were heading east on the Skyway in a maroon Chrysler sedan when the woman jumped out of the vehicle and started running, police said. While the car was still moving, the man allegedly jumped out and started shooting at the woman. She was shot several times in the body, police said. The car eventually crashed into a wall near the toll plaza.

A Chicago police officer who responded to the scene around 4:10 a.m. saw the man running back to the vehicle and ordered him to stop. The man pulled out a handgun and shot himself in the head, police said.

The man and the woman were pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Their identities have not been released.

The car is registered to a man with a Chicago address. An Uber decal was visible on the rear window.

A Skyway spokesperson said one of their workers who witnessed the shooting suffered a panic attack and was also taken to the hospital. She is expected to be OK.

Police and Illinois Department of Transportation crews worked to keep as much traffic away from the scene as possible.

Access from the southbound Dan Ryan Expressway to the eastbound Skyway was also shut down. The ramps to the eastbound Skyway at South State Street, East 73rd Street and South Drexel Avenue were also closed. The Skyway reopened around 9:45 a.m.

"I was surprised to hear about it. Normally, you hear of incidents, but you don't really hear about somebody being killed on the expressway," said Derek Bobo, a Skyway driver.