A man was shot and another man was stabbed during an unusually violent weekend in Evanston.
The three-day period starting Friday also saw two men rob a CTA employee at gunpoint near the Chicago-Evanston border.
The string of incidents came a day after the Evanston Police Department announced major crime in the city was down more than 6 percentage points through the first 10 months of this year compared with the same range in 2012.
The shooting happened Saturday night across the street from Evanston Township High School, according to police.
Evanston Police Cmdr. Jay Parrott said a 20-year-old man was shot four times with a small-caliber gun at about 8:40 p.m. near the intersection of Church Street and Hovland Court. The man, who is from Evanston, was hit twice in the hand, once in the leg and once in the buttocks.
Parrott said the man was taken to Evanston Hospital and has been released.
The man told police two men were responsible for the shooting, Parrott said. Police described the two men as 5 feet 7 inches tall and 135 pounds.
A day earlier, a 34-year-old man was stabbed during a fight among street artists near the Chicago-Evanston border, according to police.
Shortly before midnight Friday, Chicago and Evanston police responded to several people fighting in the middle of the street near an art gallery in the 700 block of Howard Street, Parrott said. Officers broke up the fight, but a short time later, a Chicago Fire Department ambulance was sent to the same area for the man.
Parrott said the man was stabbed in the chest during the fight but did not realize he was hurt until the brawl ended.
The man, who is from Chicago, was taken to St. Francis Hospital, where he underwent surgery, Parrott said. The man is in stable condition.
Parrott said police have reviewed surveillance footage of the fight and identified a suspect. However, no one was in custody or charged Monday afternoon.
The fight happened after the artists left an event at the Howard Street Gallery, 747 W. Howard St., Parrott said. The gallery did not return a request for comment Monday.
Later in the weekend, the two men robbed the CTA worker while one of them displayed a gun Saturday evening.
The employee, a 26-year-old Chicago man, was walking during his break when two men approached him at about 6 p.m. in the 500 block of Howard Street, Parrott said.
One of the men showed the worker the handle of a revolver and told him to hand over his property, according to police. The men took the employee’s iPhone 5 and $42.
The men fled on foot, one heading north and the other east, Parrott said. The incident was initially reported to Chicago police, but after verifying the location, Evanston police took over the case.
Police also responded to two reports of shots fired throughout the weekend in west Evanston. The first one came in shortly after 6 p.m. Saturday near the intersection of Brown Avenue and Church Street, and the second one came in shortly after 7 p.m. Sunday near the intersection of Darrow Avenue and Foster Street. Police checked the areas and found nothing.
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Twitter: @_tannermaxwell
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @PatrickSvitek