A 25-year-old man was shot and critically injured while driving through Englewood, crashing his car into a police vehicle after a gunman in a gray SUV opened fire on him. The shooting happened in the 6900 block of South Lafayette Avenue on Thursday night, October 8, 2026, leaving the victim with gunshot wounds to his chest and leg.
According to ABC7 Chicago, the victim was behind the wheel of a gray sedan when he got into an altercation with a suspect riding in a gray SUV. Police say the suspect then pulled out a gun and fired directly at him. Struck in the chest and leg, the man crashed into a police vehicle before officers got him to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition.
A Familiar Pattern on Englewood's Streets
Thursday night's shooting echoes a string of similar attacks on drivers in and around the neighborhood this year. In May, a 47-year-old man was fatally wounded in a drive-by shooting in the 1400 block of West 71st Street, where, per the station's report, an SUV approached and someone inside opened fire before fleeing east on 71st Street, as reported by Chicago Tribune. That victim suffered wounds to his chest and abdomen and was taken in critical condition to UChicago Medicine, where he later died.
A separate case in West Englewood involved a 54-year-old man critically wounded when a dark-colored SUV stopped nearby and someone inside fired in his direction. That shooting took place at about 4:45 a.m. in the 7100 block of South Ashland Avenue, and the victim, shot several times, was transported to Advocate Christ Hospital in critical condition.
Conflicting Details in a Prior Deadly Case
Another Englewood shooting in August, reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, left a man dead after he was shot while sitting in an SUV in the 6200 block of May Street at about 9:16 p.m. The paper's headline identified the victim as 62, while its opening sentence called him 34; later body text identified him as Markus Carl Crawford, 62. That victim suffered gunshot wounds to the shoulder and abdomen and was also taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition before being pronounced dead.
Citywide Numbers Climb Even as Lows Persist
The Englewood shootings come as Chicago has logged a rise in violence this year compared with 2025. Through the first four months of 2026, the city recorded 130 homicides, up from 120 during the same stretch last year, according to WTTW. April alone saw 32 homicides, a 39% jump over the 23 recorded in April 2025.
WTTW also reported 421 shootings through April, a 5% increase year over year, and 501 shooting victims citywide, up 9% from the same period in 2025. Police recovered more than 3,000 illegal firearms during that span, including an average of 29 guns a day in April alone, the outlet reported.
No arrests or suspect information had been released in connection with Thursday night's shooting as of this report. The victim's identity, the suspect's identity, and the exact timing of the gunfire have not been disclosed by authorities.
