CHICAGO (WLS) — A Concealed Carry License holder fired back at a gunman who shot a CTA bus supervisor on the city’s Southwest Side on Tuesday afternoon, officials said.
Chicago police said the drive-by shooting happened around 2 p.m. in the Archer Heights neighborhood. Chopper 7 was over the scene, where police squad cars surrounded a CTA bus under an overpass near West 47th Street and South Archer Avenue.
ABC7 spoke with Lorenzo Hernandez, who was caught in the crossfire while heading to work in his SUV. He is thankful to be alive after a bullet from the shooting, still lodged in his SUV, stopped short of hitting him and a nearby tow truck driver.
Hernandez, who spoke to ABC7 in Spanish through a translator, said he was sitting at the 47th and Archer when he saw a crash involving a CTA bus and at least four other vehicles.
“I saw the bus crash happen as I was stopped at the light,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez said after the crash, more than a dozen people got out of the bus and impacted vehicles when someone inside a white Dodge Durango shot at them.
Police said one of the bullets hit the CTA bus supervisor, a 55-year-old man, who was responding to the crash.
Hernandez was sitting in the driver’s seat when one bullet hit his SUV, stopping short of hitting him. The engine blocked the bullet from continuing through.
“The bullet looked like it was headed in my direction, but got stopped by the car,” Hernandez said.
At the same time, a tow truck driver, who was helping to move the vehicles, was standing by Hernandez’s SUV when he dropped down.
Hernandez initially thought the tow truck driver was hit, but then saw him jump back up and run around the front of his SUV, where he fired two shots at the gunman. That tow truck driver, who didn’t want to go on camera, told ABC7 he saw the shooter take aim at him before he fired his own gun.
Hernandez said you never know what can happen at any moment, and he is grateful to have his life.
“The shooting happened so quickly, I didn’t have time to react,” Hernandez said. “In Chicago, you go to work not knowing if you will come back home. This happens everywhere. I thank God that I didn’t get hit.”
At the end of the chaotic ordeal, Hernandez said the tow truck driver came over to him to thank him.
“The tow truck driver thanked me. He said if my SUV wasn’t there, he would have gotten killed,” Hernandez said.
Police were speaking with the tow truck driver at the scene, and he was asked to stay behind as part of the investigation. CPD also confirmed a witness with a Concealed Carry License fired back at the shooters.
Police said the CTA worker, struck in his thigh, was transported to Mount Sinai Hospital, where his condition was stabilized. A CTA spokesperson said their bus supervisor was not the shooter’s intended target.
The investigation has forced a shutdown of many roadways in the area.
No one is in custody and Area 1 detectives are investigating. Officials did not immediately provide further information about the shooting.
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