4 men seriously wounded at strip club



By Tom Schuba, By Justin Jackson, By Luke Wilusz

HARVEY, IL – Four men were shot and seriously wounded early Saturday inside a strip club in south suburban Harvey.

At 3:49 a.m., the male suspect entered The BOXXX Gentleman’s Club, 16700 S. Halsted St. in Harvey, and fired shots in the direction of the four victims, striking all of them, according to Harvey city spokesman Sean Howard. The shooting apparently stemmed from an earlier incident at another nightclub in another town.

Two of the men were taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn while another was taken to Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey, all in serious condition, Howard said. The fourth was in surgery Saturday morning at the Intensive Care Unit at Stroger Hospital.

No one was in custody Saturday morning, but investigators had identified a suspect in security camera footage. He was apparently accompanied by a woman when he entered the club.

“We do have some good leads,” Howard said at a news conference outside the club. “We have reviewed the tapes and we know who we’re looking for.” Investigators were also trying to determine how the shooter got the gun into the club. While the club does not have metal detectors, Howard said the guards use scanning devices to check patrons as they enter.

The club was shut down by order of the mayor’s office Saturday morning pending investigations by Harvey police and the city’s planning department, Howard said.

“Historically, this club has relatively been quiet over the last 15 years,” Howard said. “It’s been well managed, as far as we know. There has been no specific, serious incident of crime here in the last 15 years.”

Howard said the shooting was not random and appeared to be an isolated, targeted incident.

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