Gee, look at what has happened in the city.
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Stray bullet wounds flight attendant, airline captain near Cabrini-Green
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By Crystal Yednak and Eric Ferkenhoff
Tribune staff reporters
Published July 30, 2001, 3:46 PM CDT
A flight attendant and an airline captain headed to O'Hare International Airport this morning became the latest innocent bystanders struck by stray gunfire in Chicago as they rode an airport shuttle bus through the Near North Side, authorities said.
The 23-year-old Continental Airlines flight attendant from Houston was in good condition this afternoon at St. Mary of Nazareth Hospital Center, Chicago, a hospital spokesman said. The woman was sitting on the right side of the bus and was struck in the lower right hip, according to authorities.
The same bullet grazed the hip of a Continental Airlines captain.
The Phoenix Charter Transport bus was carrying 13 passengers, mostly flight attendants and pilots for Continental Airways and US Airways, police said. It was heading west in the 600 block of Division Street, near the Cabrini-Green public housing complex, about 4:45 a.m. when the shots were fired.
The bus driver, Rich Rolon, said the other crew members screamed that the woman had been hit. He headed west on Division to St. Mary of Nazareth Hospital Center.
"I've got to admit I think I ran through a few red lights there," Rolon said.
Police said a man on the sidewalk in front of Cabrini-Green had pulled a gun from his waistband and was firing at a car driving next to the bus, but hit the bus instead.
"I've driven through there when Cabrini-Green was at its worst, and nothing like this ever happened," Rolon said. "If I had been going a little slower, it could've gone through her liver or something else."
The flight attendant was scheduled for exploratory surgery later today, but doctors were optimistic she would be able to go home Tuesday, said Rahsaan Johnson, a spokesman for Continental.
The airline captain was treated and released, police said.
Ed Smith, vice president of Phoenix Charter Transport, said the incident shook his driver and staff.
"It's kind of a black eye on the city of Chicago. We get visitors from out of town, and this kind of thing happens," Smith said. "I guess I'll recommend to my drivers to avoid Division Street."
Bus passengers who escaped injury were interviewed by police and then continued to the airport, Smith said.
Today's shootings were the latest against bystanders that have plagued the city this month.
On Saturday afternoon, Francisco Macias, 12, was playing outside on the 1700 block of West 48th Street when he was shot in the head and killed by a gunman who opened fire from a gangway, police said.
Hours later, Chatier Morris, 14, was shot five times as she fled a burst of gunfire outside her family's apartment in the 4500 block of South Evans Avenue, police said. She was listed in serious condition today at the University of Chicago Hospitals.