Man killed, 2 others wounded in shooting outside Cook County JailJermaine Nolenon July 12, 2021 at 3:20 am

A man was killed and two women were wounded in a shooting Saturday night outside of Cook County Jail.

Londre Sylvester, 31, and a woman were walking in the 2700 block of South California Avenue when two people got out of a car and began firing about 8:50 p.m., Chicago police said.

Sylvester was struck in the face and chest and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said. The woman, 60, was struck in the knee and taken to Stroger Hospital, where she was listed in good condition.

Another woman, 35, standing nearby was grazed by a bullet to her face, police said. She was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital and was also listed in good condition.

Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Officers combed California Boulevard in a light rain for evidence, and dozens of markers were seen in the street in front of an area of the jail where visitors can enter. A bloody shirt could be seen on the sidewalk near some of the markers.

A woman who had gone to the jail to visit a detainee said she heard what she thought were fireworks going off as she talked with another visitor at the entrance to a parking lot a block south.

“We were talking from car to car and I looked at her and said, ‘Those sounded really close,” she told the Sun-Times. “Moments later, I heard two pops in front of the visiting area, then more in a cadence that couldn’t be anything but gunshots.”

The woman, who asked that her name not be used, said they ducked inside their cars and waited for the shots to end.

“When the shooting stopped, a Cook Country [sheriff’s officer] said to me, ‘Young lady, I think you better move your car,’ and at first I laughed it off because I didn’t believe him, but he was serious and told me those were gunshots.

“I can’t stop thinking to myself that had I not stopped to talk to my friend, I could have been in that area when they were shooting,” she said. “I was supposed to be over there.”

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