Armed man kills 3, injures 5 in gunfire before being shot dead by police in Evanston

A sniper came out in a wave of shootings that extended from the South Side of Chicago to Evanston on Saturday afternoon that resulted in at least three people shot and five seriously injured before police killed the man during a shootout.

Police identified the shooter as Jason Nightengale, 32, from Chicago, and did not know the reason for the spree.

The wave of terror came to an end in Evanston when police responded to the call of an armed man at 5:38 pm, inside a CVS store on 101 Asbury Ave. Shots were fired inside the store, said Evanston police chief Demitrous Cook .

The police then chased Nightengale as he ran to the IHOP restaurant across the street, where he took a woman hostage, Cook said.

Ashlee Rezin Garcia / Sun-Times

After shooting the woman, Nightengale ran out of the restaurant and into a shootout with Evanston police in a Dollar General parking lot, where he was shot and killed, Cook said.

The woman was taken to Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston in critical condition, Cook said. The police chief said she suffered a gunshot wound to the “neck area”.

“If it weren’t for the courageous conduct of the Evanston police, many more people would have been injured,” said Chicago Supt police. Said David Brown.

On Facebook, a woman who claimed to be Nightengale’s sister wrote: “My brother was not and was not in his right mind for a long time. . . My condolences to all families affected by their mental breakdown. “

Brown said the shooting started when Nightengale shot and killed a 30-year-old man just before 2 pm in a parking lot on East End Block 5300 while the man was sitting in his vehicle.

University of Chicago police identified the man as a student at the school.

From there, Nightengale went to an apartment building a block away and “randomly” started shooting, assaulting a woman and killing a security guard in the building who was sitting at the reception, Brown said. The sniper then shot a 77-year-old woman in the head in the same building where she was receiving her mail, leaving her in critical condition.

Chicago Police Photos

Nightengale went to an apartment building on block 5500 in the South East End, where his relatives are believed to have lived, and forced a man he knew at gunpoint to give him the keys to a red Toyota, police said. .

Nightengale drove to block 9300 in South Halsted, where around 3:00 pm he entered a convenience store, announced a robbery and started shooting, killing a 20-year-old man inside the store and leaving an 81-year-old woman in critical condition.

An hour later, a 15-year-old girl was shot in the head while riding in a vehicle on block 10300 on South Halsted Street with her mother. Brown said Nightengale was also responsible for the shooting, which left the girl in critical condition.

Nightengale then returned to one of the shooting scenes and shot the investigating officers. No officers were injured.

At 17:34, a dispatcher alerted the Chicago police in Rogers Park that Nightengale was suspected of being there.

The dispatcher described the red Toyota that Nightengale was driving and said the car “supposedly just dripped to 7600 N. Sheridan”, apparently a reference to a tracking system on it.

“He is armed and dangerous – he allegedly used a .45 caliber in two murders today,” said the dispatcher, according to a recording of the call.

Another alert was posted at 17:41 saying that the car was the victim’s – not Nightengale’s.

Moments later, an officer called the dispatcher saying that shots were fired near the IHOP and Dollar General.

Nightengale does not appear to have been convicted of any violent crime, although he has been charged in five separate cases of domestic assault in the past decade. All of these charges were dismissed.

On his LinkedIn account, Nightengale said he briefly worked as a caretaker, taxi driver and as a “security investigator”. The security company owner said he never heard of him.

Ashlee Rezin Garcia / Sun-Times

Ashlee Rezin Garcia / Sun-Times