*Brian Althimer is a former Marine and resident of Chicago’s Englewood community and says he doesn’t feel safe in the city where roughly two-dozen shootings have taken place on area expressways.
“It’s getting way too bad out here,” Althimer told Good Day Chicago. “I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve actually purchased this vest.”
Althimer’s tactical vest weighs close to 50 pounds, and when he’s driving throughout the city, he wears it.
“Recently, I moonlighted at a bar up on the Northside and got off around 5-5:15. Got off around Lake Shore Drive, I hit Jackson and I noticed a tan SUV GM model behind me. And I’m not paying it no mind and all of a sudden this vehicle pulls up on the side of me and now they’re pacing me from the passenger side and this guy in the passenger seat waves a gun at me.”
Althimer says he immediately got off the expressway, contacted the police and filed a report. So far, no one has been arrested.
READ RELATED STORY: Chicago Pastor Sues Police for Road Rage Attack (WATCH)
The Chicago-area expressway tragedies are reminiscent of the string of highway shootings that occurred in Los Angeles in 2005, which left multiple people dead and a community in fear of a return to “the bad old days of the 1980s, when the city gained a reputation for freeway gunplay.”
In 2013, Chicago saw 16 expressway shootings, 19 in 2014 and 37 in 2015. ABC7Chicago.com reports that in recent years, almost all highways shootings happened overnight. But in 2015, nine of the shootings happened during rush hour. Investigators say most highway shootings are the result of gang conflicts in surrounding neighborhoods that spill onto the expressways.
The Dan Ryan reportedly has 14 shootings, closely followed by the Eisenhower with 11. Interstate-57, the Stevenson and Kennedy had four shootings apiece.
We Publish News 24/7. Don’t Miss A Story. Click HERE to SUBSCRIBE to Our Newsletter Now!
