Jefferson Park Road Rage Shooting: Heated Scene Escalates To Drive-By, Ends In Crash

A heated behind-the-wheel exchange on Chicago's Northwest Side quickly spiraled out of a control early Friday, resulting in gunfire and a subsequent car wreck near the Kennedy Expressway.

Police say a case of road rage led to a 37-year-old man getting shot in the back around 5:40 a.m. in the 4500 block of North Lavergne Avenue in the Jefferson Park neighborhood, the Tribune reports.

After shots rang out, CBS reports both the shooter and the victim sped off.

Reports vary on who the shooter crashed into next. CBS and others say the shooter and his victim crashed into each other minutes later near West Foster and North Nagle Avenues. Meanwhile, WGN reports the victim drive off to flag down an ambulance, with ABC Chicago reporting the shooter's black Mercedes SUV broadsided a minivan with Tennessee plates — not the victim's white SUV — near Foster and Nagle.

According to WGN, the shooter injured a bystander in the process of crashing the SUV. Police have said they didn't know the exact number of passengers in the shooter's SUV, though WGN reports "as many as four people jumped out of the SUV and ran away."

The shooter also fled on foot, while the gunshot victim and the bystander were taken to area hospitals for treatment.

Tim Broderick, who runs a hyperlocal blog about the Northwest Side, told DNAinfo Chicago a road rage situation in the area of the Edens and Kennedy expressways is not surprising.

"People cut through this neighborhood all the time."