Downtown Shooting

A hit? Or a random act?

• A man was shot as he walked to work on the State Street bridge over the Chicago River at the height of the evening rush hour today.

  The 29-year-old man was walking north on the west side of the bridge, near Wacker Drive, when the gunman approached and shot him in the head at very close range about 5 p.m...

  The victim was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in serious-to-critical condition, according to fire officials. The man was able to communicate with detectives, but police did not have further information on his condition.

Amazingly, the Tribune gave a description:

• The gunman was described as black, with a thin build, with a short afro haircut, wearing a light blue dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and black shorts. He may also be wearing a rain coat.
  
  

And then the hilarity from people who obviously don't keep up on the news:

• Gary Reidy was eating at Smith and Wollensky when he thought he heard a car backfiring. "You don't expect this kind of thing on a Monday afternoon in downtown Chicago."

  Carl Burson Jr., 32, was on his way to a movie. "This is not a war zone, this is downtown Chicago," Burson said. "We don't do that down here."

  Referring to a 6-year-old killed over the weekend in the Englewood neighborhood, he added: "What is going on in the world today?"

Really guys? "You don't expect..." and "We don't do that down here"? Where have you been all summer? And the past two years? We've been expecting something like this since the video of the tourist with the bullet through his hotel room after the Taste. We just haven't determined if this was it yet. But it's definitely on the horizon.