Update 10 p.m.: Evanston police say a gunman took a woman hostage at the IHOP at Howard and Asbury around 5:40 p.m. Saturday and then shot her multiple times before fleeing across Howard Street where he exchanged gunfire with Evanston police who fatally shot him.
Police Sgt. Ken Carter says the injured woman was taken to St. Francis Hospital by Evanston Fire Department paramedics suffering from life-threatening injuries. An update on her condition is not yet available.
In addition, a 4-year-old who was a passenger in a car driving by the scene suffered a graze wound when the car was struck by gunfire. The child did not appear to have been seriously injured.
Carter says that before going to the IHOP the gunman had walked into the CVS on the northeast corner of the intersection and fired several shots while apparently attempting unsuccessfully to rob the drug store. Carter says it appears no one was injured in the shooting at the CVS.
Carter says police are still trying to determine whether the gunman, whose identity has not been released, had a connection to Evanston.
Carter says at least one and possibly two Evanston officers fired shots at the gunman. The officers apparently were not injured, but were taken to the hospital for evaluation.
The Illinois State Police have been called in to investigate the police-involved shooting, and the North Regional Major Crimes Task Force is also assisting with the investigation of the incident.
Sgt. Carter said he wasn’t able to confirm a report that the gunman had been involved in other attacks in Chicago earlier in the day.
Alderman Ann Rainey, 8th Ward, writing on her 8th Ward message board, said the gunman’s rampage had started near McCormick Place in Chicago where he carjacked a vehicle and in the process reportedly killed two people.
Rainey says she believes the gunman killed two more people on his route north from there.
“I want to personally thank the Evanston Police Department for stopping a murderer that was on the loose today,” the alderman added. “Just imagine what some of these victims went through today. They could’ve been any of us.”
Update 8 a.m. 1/10/21:
WLS Television is reporting this morning that the woman shot at the IHOP in Evanston died overnight. (Update 2:30 p.m.: The station later retracted that report, saying the Evanston victim was still in critical condition.)
The gunman in that shooting now has been identified by Chicago police as a 32-year-old Chicago resident, Jason Nightengale.
The gunman’s attacks reportedly began about 1:50 p.m. Saturday when he shot and killed a University of Chicago student in a car in the garage of the Regents Park apartment complex at 5035 South East End Avenue in Chicago.
Police say he then shot two women in an apartment building in the 4900 block of South East End Avenue, killing a 46-year-old security guard and critically injuring a 77-year-old resident of the building.
Next, police say, Nightengale went to an apartment building in the 5500 block of South East End and, at gunpoint, forced a man he knew to give him the keys to the man’s car.
Nightengale then drove the car to a convenience store in the 9300 block of South Halsted where about 3 p.m., police say, he shot two people, killing a 20-year-old man and critically injuring an 81-year-old woman.
At 4 p.m. in the 10300 block of South Halsted he reportedly fired into a car. A bullet struck a 15-year-old girl in the head, leaving her critically injured.
Police say he then returned to the 9300 block of South Halsted and fired shots at officers investigating that shooting before fleeing north toward Evanston.
Nightengale reportedly had a length series of arrests starting in 2005 for gun and drug violations, aggravated assault and domestic violence, among other offenses.
Update 2:45 p.m.:
Mayor Steve Hagerty this afternoon issued a statement praising “the brave actions of Evanston and Chicago police” in responding to the shootings and said that but for them “many more innocent lives would have been lost.”
“My heart goes out to the victims of this senseless violence and their families,” the mayor added. “No words can repair the lasting damage done by this individual.”