Name: Expressway shootings more than doubled in 2020, and victims and advocates are asking why tougher measures aren’t being taken
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Expressway shootings more than doubled in 2020, and victims and advocates are asking why tougher measures aren’t being taken

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AdvertisementBy Chicago TribuneJan 22, 2021 at 5:00 amJoe Starnes can’t hold a cup of coffee in his right hand. He can’t hold much of anything.It’s been five months since Starnes’ right arm was damaged when someone pulled up next to him late one summer night and fired about 14 bullets into his SUV as he was driving home on the Dan Ryan Expressway.Advertisement“When you get shot, your whole life is changed,” Starnes said. “Everything is different.”The shooting was one of 128 that happened on Chicago-area expressways in 2020 — an unprecedented spike that left a trail of grieving loved ones and traumatized victims like Starnes who now wonder what is being done about the disturbing trend.AdvertisementThe number of expressway shootings in 2020 was more than double the number in each of the four previous years: 52 in 2019, 43 in 2018, 51 in 2017 and 54 in 2016.Seven people shot on an expressway in the Chicago area last year died, and at least 65 others were wounded. Of the 128 shootings in 2020, only 12 resulted in an arrest and charge.In July, the Tribune that was already apparent, and on a push to install more and better cameras and license plate scanners along expressways to curb violence.Months later, state officials say the process for upgrading and installing more cameras is still in progress.One of the youngest victims of an expressway shooting last year was a 10-month-old girl, Ny’Ori Askew. A bullet struck her in the temple and nearly killed her while she was riding in the back seat of a car on the Bishop Ford Freeway last summer.Community advocate Early Walker offered a $10,000 reward through his group, I’m Telling Don’t Shoot, for information leading to an arrest. No one has been taken into custody, he said.Walker said Ny’Ori’s grandmother contacted him to ask for help after the shooting. The baby’s family members told him they planned to move from Chicago.“It still happens so often — well, more often today — and nothing’s being done about it,” Walker said, noting that he’s helped three victims of expressway shootings in the last year.AdvertisementAll of them, he said, seemed “fed up, tired and scared.”Starnes said he lost much of the use of his right hand when he was shot. He said he swerved off the Dan Ryan once the gunman stopped firing and drove to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he spoke with state police for the first and only time.He still remembers what the doctor told him: He was lucky. With the size of the gun that wounded him, he could have lost his hand.“I’m just grateful to be alive,” Starnes told the Tribune, adding that another bullet had grazed his eyeglasses.He said it took him months to summon the courage to drive on an expressway again and he still experiences anxiety when he drives his car or hears gunfire.Starnes expressed frustration with the state police for the minimal contact. “You’re just a number to them. I guess it’s not their job to care, but tell me something.”AdvertisementMore than a third of expressway shootings last year — 36 — happened on the Dan Ryan, according to state police. Among the other shootings, there were: 26 on Interstate 57; 25 on Interstate 290; 18 on the Bishop Ford; nine on Interstate 55; six on the Kennedy Expressway; four on Interstate 80; and two each on the Edens Expressway and Interstate 394.The shootings didn’t end when the new year began: On Jan. 7, a man was shot about 11:30 a.m. on the Dan Ryan on the South Side. Some community advocates and victims argue more should be done to prevent expressway shootings.State police say having more and better cameras and license plate readers on the expressways would aid their investigations, though some civil rights groups object to such measures for privacy reasons.“Expressway camera footage has produced evidence that was useful in obtaining criminal charges pursuant to expressway-related investigations,” said Beth Hundsdorfer, a spokesperson for the state police.Alma Hill has been a leader in the charge for more cameras on the expressways after her sister, Tamara Clayton, was killed in a shooting on Interstate 57 two years ago. The state passed a law in her sister’s name in 2019 authorizing the installation of more cameras along the expressways, but Hill said she hasn’t heard any updates since then.“I feel we’re being neglected,” Hill said. “I feel we’re being put on the back burner because they can use the excuse of COVID.”AdvertisementHundsdorfer has said state police believe the pandemic may be behind the spike. Traffic has been relatively sparse, she said, giving “offenders an easy avenue of opportunity to escape” and providing investigators with fewer witnesses.The legislation named for Hill’s sister directed that cameras and scanners be paid for out of the state’s road fund, which is overseen by the Illinois Department of Transportation.Agency spokesperson Maria Castaneda said there are 62 high-definition cameras along Cook County highways and expressways, 27 of which were upgraded in 2020. Most of the other cameras are still standard definition.The standard cameras work well for the transportation agency since they capture broad pictures of traffic operations, she said, but officials are “learning the cameras are helpful, but not ideal, for law enforcement purposes.”“Collecting and recording images for police investigations is not an area of expertise for the Department of Transportation,” Castaneda said. “We continue to work with state police to identify possible improvements to assist them in the best use of cameras on expressways.”But with the legislation set to expire in 2023, Hill said time has been wasted and she’s ready to take matters into her own hands.AdvertisementShe plans to connect with people who’ve been affected by expressway shootings so they can pressure state officials to do more. She’s drawing up blueprints for a letter-writing campaign and a billboard she wants to place on Interstate 57, where her sister was shot driving to work one morning in 2019.Hill said the billboard will list names of people who have been victims of expressway shootings with one simple line: Where are the cameras?“I do believe more people have to stand up and let the public and especially the government know that this is important to us,” she said. “I know they’ve got a lot on their hands but that’s no excuse.“This is ridiculous. People are dying.” Advertisement

AdvertisementBy Chicago TribuneJan 22, 2021 at 5:00 amJoe Starnes can’t hold a cup of coffee in his right hand. He can’t hold much of anything.It’s been five months since Starnes’ right arm was damaged when someone pulled up next to him late one summer night and fired about 14 bullets into his SUV as he was driving home on the Dan Ryan Expressway.Advertisement“When you get shot, your whole life is changed,” Starnes said. “Everything is different.”The shooting was one of 128 that happened on Chicago-area expressways in 2020 — an unprecedented spike that left a trail of grieving loved ones...

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Kelli Smith

The Chicago Tribune is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television are named), it remains the most-read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region. It had the 6th highest circulation for American newspapers in 2017.

Expressway shootings more than doubled in 2020, and victims and advocates are asking why tougher measures aren’t being taken

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