Bridgeview shooting not related to Summer Smash

By Bob Bong

Bridgeview Police Chief Ricardo Mancha on Monday wanted to emphasize that a shooting in the village Saturday night had nothing to do with the Summer Smash music festival that took place over the weekend at SeatGeek Stadium.

“It was an isolated incident,” he said. “Completely unrelated to the Summer Smash festival.”

Mancha said that a preliminary investigation found that the incident occurred after one man tried to rob another man in a parking lot at 87th Street and Harlem Avenue late Saturday night.

“One individual tried to rob another at 7250 W. 87^th Street,” he said. “In the parking lot, near the Secretary of State’s office.

“The robbery victim had a gun and as they tussled over the weapon it was fired several times.”

Mancha said the apparent robber was wounded as they wrestled and the men separated. Each man then jumped into their car and drove off.

“It appears the wounded man headed east on 87^th and tried to make a right-hand turn onto Harlem when he crashed into two cars and a semi-truck.

“Four people in the cars all went to the hospital with moderate to minor injuries. The truck driver was not injured.”

Mancha said police arrived after receiving a call about the crash about 11:45 p.m. The man who fired the gun turned himself in to police a short time after the incident. He was not injured.

The wounded man is still hospitalized.

The investigation is still underway and no charges have been filed.

Mancha said social media reports connecting the incident to Summer Smash were unfounded.

He said the only connection was that closing down the intersection to investigate created some traffic congestion for concert-goers who were heading south after leaving SeatGeek Stadium.