Woman with concealed carry license shoots at crooks who pointed gun at her, tried to steal her car in Chicago — and 13-year-old male with crooks is shot



A woman with a concealed carry license shot at a group of males who pointed a gun at her as they attempted to steal her car in Chicago last week — and a 13-year-old male who was with the would-be thieves was shot, police told WBBM-TV.

What are the details?

Four to five males were trying to break into a parked car in the 1100 block of East 52nd Street in Hyde Park at 7:58 p.m. Friday, police told the station.

The 34-year-old woman who owns the car confronted the group, after which one of them pulled a gun and pointed it at her, police told WBBM.

With that, the woman fired her own gun at the group and hit one of the would-be thieves — a 13-year-old male, police told the station.

The boy was struck in the neck and taken to the University of Chicago's Comer Children's Hospital in fair condition, police added to WBBM.

The rest of the would-be thieves? Police said they all ran off, and no weapon was recovered, and no one else was injured, the station reported.

Crime victims in Chicago fighting back

The incident is the latest example in recent days of crime victims in Chicago fighting back.

Last Monday, a robbery victim stabbed to death a 15-year-old male who pulled a gun on him aboard a Chicago train.

A man was on a Red Line train near 63rd Street just after 3 a.m. when a group of seven approached him, and one member of the group — the 15-year-old male — pulled out a gun in an apparent attempt to rob the man, WBBM-TV reported in a separate story, citing Chicago police chief of detectives Brendan Deenihan.

Deenihan told the station the man pulled out a knife and stabbed the gun-wielding 15-year-old male, who fled the scene with everyone else and later died at a hospital.

In addition, six people with weapons attacked and tried to rob a train passenger early in the morning of July 22, but the victim pulled a knife and fought back. Three of the suspects were wounded and hospitalized, all six were arrested, but the victim also was wounded and hospitalized.

The 42-year-old victim got on a train at Addison Street on the North Side around 2 a.m., when three people tried to take his cellphone and began attacking him, police Superintendent David Brown said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

During the struggle, the victim took out a small knife and stabbed one of his attackers in the back, the paper said.

At the North/Clybourn stop, the three robbers left the train as a fourth person entered it and began attacking the victim, Brown added to the Sun-Times, after which the victim stabbed that attacker in the neck, and the attacker stabbed the victim in the collarbone.

With that, six suspects began chasing the victim around the train platform and train cars, Brown said, according to the paper. In addition, two of the suspects hit the victim in the head with a glass bottle and other objects, Brown added, the Sun-Times said.

Three of the six robbers were hospitalized, the paper said, adding that the victim was hospitalized in serious condition. He suffered stab wounds and cuts, Patch said.

Shawn Gullens, 20, Latoya Thomas, 22, Martinez Owens, 24, and Larone Williams, 36, were charged with one felony count of armed robbery with a dangerous weapon and one felony count of aggravated battery to a transit employee, WBBM said. Vernon Holman, 52, was charged with one felony count of armed robbery and one felony count of battery with the use of a deadly weapon, the station added. It isn't clear what happened to the sixth arrested person.

'Do not fight back. Be compliant'

In response to the most recent stabbing, Chicago Transit Authority vice president of security Kevin Ryan told WBBM that victims fighting back isn't wise: "What the Chicago police will tell you to do — do not fight back. Be compliant. Do not put yourself in harm's way further."

Ryan told WBBM up to 250 unarmed security guards are patrolling the CTA system daily; the station said the stated goal is to have 300.

Chicago shooting spree ends after man with concealed carry license takes down attacker



Chicago police said this week that if it weren't for a good guy with a gun, a criminal who shot and killed one woman and injured two others on Independence Day may have gotten away with the heinous attack.

What happened?

According to the Chicago Tribune, officers were alerted to an active shooting in a South Austin alley at around 10:45 p.m. Sunday. A police notification said that a man in his 30s had approached the area and "began shooting at the victims."

By the time police arrived, they discovered four people wounded by gunfire. But after assessing the scene, officials reportedly determined that one of the wounded individuals was the gunman who had opened fire on the three others before an uninvolved bystander had stepped in to neutralize the attacker.

The uninvolved bystander — a 49-year-old man with a concealed carry license — had reportedly witnessed the attack and quickly responded by drawing his weapon and shooting at the gunman, striking him in the arm and the hip.

Woman Killed In South Austin Shooting, Concealed Carry Witness Shoots Offender www.youtube.com

The Tribune reported that the three victims in the attack included a 45-year-old woman, Janina Ford, and a 32-year-old man and a 49-year-old man whose identities have not been made public.

Ford was shot in the head during the attack and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police. The two others suffered gunshot wounds to their bodies. They were both taken to a nearby hospital where their conditions have stabilized.

The attacker, later identified as 34-year-old Calvin Gonnigan, was also taken to nearby Stroger Hospital and listed in serious condition. While at the hospital he was "placed in custody," police said.

On Wednesday, the Chicago Police Department announced that Gonnigan had been charged with one count of first-degree murder, one count of aggravated assault, and two counts of attempted first-degree murder — all felonies.

Anything else?

The violence came as a part of a particularly bloody Fourth of July weekend in the Windy City as more than 100 residents were shot and 17 were killed. Sadly, the holiday violence was only a continuation of what Chicagoans have been experiencing for over a year.

Yet in the face of soaring crime, Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot has continued to blame guns and systemic racism for the city's woes and has called for increased gun control to help curb the violence. However, in this case, taking the gun out of a good guy's hand would only have led to further violence.