(Left) Wells Street sidewalk on which shooting occurred, between Erie and Huron. (Click on image to view larger version.)

March 8, 2016 – A shooting Tuesday afternoon in River North sent a 24-year-old man to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in serious condition but he is expected to recover.

At about 2:30 p.m., the unidentified man was walking on the sidewalk on the west side of Wells Street, just north of Erie Street and a Hooter’s restaurant, when another man approached and shot him in the abdomen. Witnesses say there were about six shots. The shooter then got away in a gray minivan, going west on Huron Street.

The shooter and the victim knew each other, according to 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly, and the shooter had been waiting “for some time” in the area for the victim to leave the restaurant.

Reilly has a constituent service office at 325 West Huron Street, about two blocks away.

“Safety here has never been a concern for my neighbors or my family,” wrote Reilly in an update to constituents. “We are fortunate gun violence is a rare occurrence in downtown Chicago, but when an individual is specifically targeted for gun violence, it can happen anywhere.”