Web Extra!
A highly intoxicated man who jumped out of a car on Austin Boulevard late Sunday night hurling racial slurs and swinging a bat was shot by one of his would-be victims.
The shooting victim, described only as an Hispanic male, had reportedly been partying in Berwyn and got into an argument with his girlfriend. He then went for a ride with a friend to cool off. Right about midnight, the pair spotted several black individuals coming off the Austin Boulevard Blue Line el stop and the drunken man told his friend to pull over so he could "mess" with them.
The man exited the black Chevy Envoy with a baseball bat and confronted one of the men, spewing racial slurs. After the drunken man took two or three swings at the pedestrian, the man drew a pistol from his waistband and shot his attacker in the leg and hip.
Oak Park police were called to MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn where they interviewed the man who had been shot. At first he told police he was accosted while walking on Austin. However, the SUV's driver told police the victim had in fact attacked the group of men because they were black.
"He's got a long (criminal) history," Commander Clemet Harbour said this afternoon. As for the man with the gun, Harbour said, "We're still trying to find him."
