CTA Employee Shot, Seriously Wounded Outside Howard Station: Police

CHICAGO —A Chicago Transit Authority employee was seriously wounded Tuesday night in a drive-by shooting while working at the Howard station, authorities said.

The rail operations switch worker was standing outside of the station in the 7500 block of North Paulina Street in the Rogers Park neighborhood when someone in a white SUV fired multiple shots, striking him in the chest, according to Chicago police and CTA officials.

The shooting followed a report of a disturbance outside the station around 9:45 p.m., according to CTA officials.

The 51-year-old rail worker was taken by the Chicago Fire Department to St. Francis Hospital, where police said he was listed in serious condition.

Police said the shooter fled the scene, and no one was in custody Wednesday morning, as detectives review video and forensic evidence.

The shooting of the CTA rail worker comes a day after four people who were sleeping on CTA Blue Line train in Forest Park were shot and killed. A 30-year Chicago man who has, twice in five years, faced weapons charges in Cook County only to have prosecutors drop them has been charged with their murders.

In a statement Tuesday, CTA president Dorval Carter said that he could not believe he had to address the issue of firearms on the CTA again.

“This evening, we’ve learned of yet another violent criminal act involving the use of a gun, this time injuring one of our own," Carter said. "We are both saddened, and also in disbelief that we are once again having to address the topic of gun violence and public transit.”

Last week, a federal judge in Rockford has ruled that a state law banning people with licenses to carry concealed firearms from brining them on public transit is unconstitutional, but the office of the Illinois attorney general has indicated he intends to appeal the ruling.