Uptown 'Safe Passage' Shooting: 5 Men Shot Outside Church On Chicago's North Side

5 Men Shot On 'Safe Passage' Route Outside Uptown Church

Five men were shot early Monday evening in a drive-by shooting on a crime-plagued corner in Chicago's North Side Uptown neighborhood.

The shooting took place at 5:57 p.m. in the 4500 block of Sheridan Road, near the busy intersection of Sheridan and Wilson, DNAinfo Chicago reports.

Witnesses told ABC Chicago that was when a gunman fired nearly two dozen shots from a white car, striking five men.

The victims range in age from 21 to 58 and are all male, the Chicago Tribune reports. The youngest victim was initially said by police to have died, but as of early Tuesday morning he is in critical condition after being shot in the head.

Three of the other victims were hospitalized and are in good condition, according to the Tribune. The condition of the fifth victim, who was shot in both arms, has also stabilized.

More than 20 bullet casings were left at the intersection and police believe the shooting may be gang-related, CBS Chicago reports.

The corner where the shooting took place is not only directly outside of the Uptown Baptist Church, which was holding a prayer service and night meal for the homeless at the time shots rang out, but it is also on the Chicago Public Schools' "Safe Passage" route, which the district has designated for students to travel to school beginning on the first day of school next Monday, the Chicago Sun-Times notes.

The Monday incident is at least the third shooting in two weeks that took place along a "Safe Passage" route or directly outside a CPS school.

Joseph Rogers, a security guard at the nearby Uptown Shop & Save store, told NBC Chicago, "It looked like a war had took place."

"There was blood everywhere. There was glass on the ground from the bus stop. There was one guy sitting on the ground shot in the leg," Rogers continued.

The Rev. Michael Allen, pastor at Uptown Baptist Church, tweeted about the violence Monday night.

No one was in custody in the shooting as of Monday evening.

Seven people were wounded in other gun violence Monday evening into early Tuesday in Chicago and one of the victims -- a man believed to be in his 20s -- was killed in West Englewood, the Tribune reports.

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