A man and a woman were left in critical condition Friday after a gunman opened fire from a passing vehicle on a West Woodlawn street, Chicago police said. The shooting happened just before noon in the 6400-block of South Eberhart Avenue, leaving both victims fighting for their lives at a nearby hospital.
According to ABC7 Chicago, a 34-year-old man and a woman whose age was not immediately known were standing on the street when a vehicle pulled up and someone inside began firing. The man was struck multiple times in the body, while the woman was shot in the head, police said.
Both victims were rushed to the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition, the outlet reported. Area One detectives have taken over the investigation, though authorities had not released further details about a possible motive, suspect, or vehicle description as of Friday.
A Street With a Troubled History
Friday's shooting is not the first act of gun violence reported on that stretch of South Eberhart Avenue. A year earlier, a 24-year-old woman was shot while standing on a porch in the same 6400 block around 11:07 p.m., according to FOX 32 Chicago. That shooting was also reported by WGN-TV, which said the woman was critically injured late that Sunday night.
Years before that, the same block was the scene of a far deadlier attack. One man was killed and five others wounded in a shooting ABC7 Chicago reported on in June 2018, with police saying at the time that it may have been a drive-by shooting, with victims standing outside in the 6400-block of South Eberhart Avenue when shots rang out around 1:10 a.m. A separate shooting was also reported near or inside a convenience store at 61st Street and Eberhart Avenue in West Woodlawn, according to CBS Chicago.
Broader Crime Trends on the South Side
The shooting also lands amid a documented rise in gun violence in parts of the South Side this year. A July report from the Chicago Tribune found that the Deering District had recorded 60 shootings since the start of 2026, with homicides in that district up 183% compared with the same period in 2025. The CPD area covering Deering, known as Area 1, saw a 68% increase in homicides over the same stretch, per that report.
Still, the Tribune noted that citywide, shootings and homicides remained substantially below where they stood in 2022, even as pockets of the South Side saw sharper increases. That broader data does not establish any specific trend tied to Friday's shooting or to South Eberhart Avenue itself, and no connection between the incidents has been confirmed.
No arrests had been announced in Friday's shooting, and police had not described a suspect or a vehicle. Area One detectives continue to investigate, and no further updates had been released as of Friday afternoon.
