CHICAGO - A man was shot Thursday as he drove on the Dan Ryan Expressway with a woman and child in the car near Garfield Boulevard.
He was the fifth shooting victim on Chicago expressways this week as state police face a surge in shootings, which more than doubled in 2020 over the previous year.
Troopers were called about 1:15 p.m. to a shooting in the inbound local lanes, Illinois State Police spokeswoman Elizabeth Clausing said in a statement.
Paramedics found the gunshot victim, a 24-year-old man, near 35th Street and Wentworth Avenue, according to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.
The man was shot at least twice in his leg and taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, Langford said. State police said the wounds were not life-threatening.
A woman and child in the car were uninjured, Clausing said.
Lanes remained open while police investigated, according to a state trooper at the ISP Chicago office.
He was at least the fifth person shot on Chicago-area expressways this week. On Wednesday, a brazen shooting during the morning rush injured a man and woman on Interstate 55 near Cicero Avenue. They drove themselves to a gas station near 53rd and Harlem Avenue in suburban Summit, where paramedics found them.
About 3 p.m. Monday, a man was shot on the Dan Ryan near 46th Street, state police said. His passenger was uninjured.
On Sunday, an 18-year-old was shot on the Eisenhower Expressway about 5:15 a.m. near Kolmar Avenue. His wounds weren’t life-threatening.
Shootings on Chicago-area expressways more than doubled in 2020 over the previous year, according to state police. Earlier in February, the state allocated more than $12 million to state police to install high-definition cameras to help solve expressway shootings.