Police searching for armed bicyclist after woman shot in the back in Chicago

CHICAGO - A woman was shot by a gunman on a bicycle around lunchtime Wednesday in the Fulton River District, just blocks from the Loop.

Police believe the 29-year-old was targeted.

The woman was on a sidewalk with two acquaintances when a male rode up on a bike and fired a single shot without stopping or saying a word, Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said in a news conference.

Officers responded to a call of a person down and bleeding, and found the woman with a gunshot wound to the back, police said.

The attack happened about 11:50 a.m. in the 200 block of North Milwaukee Avenue, police said.

She was rushed to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where her condition was stabilized, police said. The woman was undergoing surgery and is expected to survive, Johnson said. There was no indication that the woman knew the gunman, he said.

Still from a surveillance video showing the suspect in a shooting Sept. 18, 2019, in the 200 block of North MIlwaukee Avenue. | Chicago police

The gunman was described as a male wearing dark clothing on a dark-colored mountain bike, Johnson said. He had a dark complexion, and was wearing a dark baseball cap and light-colored gym shoes, he said. He continued northbound on Milwaukee.

Johnson said the woman may have been targeted by the gunman. She was walking in an area not far from her work, in an area that rarely sees gang conflict, he said.

Police released a photo of the suspect riding a bike while armed with a handgun in the hopes that someone would identify him. Anyone with tips was asked to call 911.