Good morning, Chicago.
Hundreds of people swept through the Magnificent Mile and other parts of downtown Chicago early Monday, smashing windows, looting stores, confronting police and at one point exchanging gunfire with officers, authorities said.
The shots were fired at Michigan Avenue and Lake Street around 4:30 a.m., nearly five hours into the widespread vandalism. Officers were not hit and returned fire, according to the department, which said it was not known if anyone else was hit.
Earlier, an officer was seen slumped against a building by Grand and Wabash avenues as other other cops tended to him. It was unclear what had happened to him. Down the block, police in camouflage gear and shields briefly stood outside at a shop at Rush Street and Grand Avenue.
The looting began shortly after midnight as people darted through broken store windows and doors along Michigan Avenue carrying shopping bags full of merchandise. Cars dropped off more people as the crowd grew. At least one U-Haul van was seen pulling up.
Police made several arrests through the night and recovered at least one gun, officials said. One woman with shopping bags in her hands fell on the sidewalk as an officer was chasing her. Another woman appeared to have been pepper-sprayed. A rock was thrown at a squad car.
The looting seemed to be centered in Streeterville and North Michigan Avenue, but some looting was reported on State Street in the Loop and on the Near North Side. By 3 a.m. police appeared to be getting things under control.
But some vandalism continued into the daylight hours, and the CTA suspended train and bus service into downtown during the morning rush, while the Illinois state police blocked off ramps from expressways. Bridges across the Chicago River were raised, except for the one on LaSalle Street for emergency vehicles.
People were seen running out of a PNC Bank, its windows smashed, at Huron and State streets. Down the block, other stores, including a Sally Beauty Supply, had been cleaned out by vandals. Other parts of downtown, including around Grand and Wabash avenues, were littered with trash.
Crowds repeatedly tried to bash in the windows of the Omega watch store at Delaware Place and Michigan Avenue.
“The watch store,” one officer said. “They’re gonna get it eventually.”
A group of people went in and out through a broken window of the Louis Vuitton store along Walton Place across the street from the Drake Hotel. A squad car drove by and the group ran away.
But as the car rode off, at least one person tried to go into the shop. The police returned.
“Go home!” One cop shouted.
“You go home!” Someone shouted, apparently back at the officer.
It was not clear what sparked the vandalism, though in at least two spots graffiti against the police was seen.
