One person was wounded in a shooting Wednesday afternoon at 81st Street and Stony Island Avenue in Chicago's Avalon Park neighborhood, with the victim taken to an area hospital in serious condition. Police were seen investigating near the Chicago Skyway overpass that looms over Stony Island Avenue at that intersection.
The Chicago Fire Department said the person was transported to a nearby hospital in serious condition, according to CBS Chicago, which reported the shooting. Chicago police did not immediately have additional information available about the circumstances of the shooting or any suspects, the outlet reported.
A Corridor With a Troubled Recent History
The shooting unfolded at a prominent commercial and transit intersection where CTA Bus Route 28 runs. Elevated ramps for the Chicago Skyway rise at 79th Street, Stony Island Avenue and South Chicago Avenue, according to background on the corridor compiled from Wikipedia.
In March, Hoodline reported that an 18-year-old was shot in the head in the 1100 block of East 81st Street, in a case that Area South detectives investigated without immediate arrests.
A Closely Watched Case in Avalon Park
Chicago police traffic stops in Black and Latino South and West Side communities have yielded few guns.
Avalon Park has also been the backdrop for one of the city's most closely watched criminal cases in recent memory. A hearing was scheduled to begin on January 14, 2026, for four young men charged in the May 2023 killing of Chicago Police Officer Aréanah Preston, who was slain in the neighborhood while returning home from an overnight shift and was later honored with a street renaming on Blackstone Avenue, as Hoodline detailed in its coverage of the courtroom proceedings in her slaying.
No further details on the condition of Wednesday's victim or any possible suspects had been released as of this report. Chicago police said information was not immediately available.
