Three shootings in two days shocked Evanston last week. On Wednesday, police department leaders and other city officials provided updates and answered questions about the incidents at a town hall forum hosted by Council Member Krissie Harris (2nd District).

Commander Ryan Glew relayed the bulk of the information to about 60 people at the Robert Crown Community Center, with another 20 people participating via Zoom. He reviewed basic information on each incident from Aug. 5 and 6, including one that was determined to be an accidental, self-inflicted gunshot wound. Glew said even though the other two shootings occurred just blocks and 24 hours apart, they appear unrelated.

“In general, if there are two shootings in a geographic area that are close together in time, it’s more likely that they are somehow connected,” Glew said. “But that’s not the case. That’s bad luck.”

Three people were arrested and charged about the three incidents so far, including one person was arrested on Monday Police believe he was involved in the August 5 incident in which two people shot at each other, but was not directly responsible for it.

Glew said the department’s investigation is ongoing and there may be additional arrests and charges in the near future. At the time of this writing, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office reported that all three defendants are currently in custody awaiting trial.

EPD sees “mediators” in the neighborhood

In response to questions from residents about how the EPD is dealing more broadly with the neighborhood where the shootings occurred, Glew said police know that some businesses and residences “encourage” crime or violence: “not necessarily directly involved, but not helpful.” He said the department is working “very intentionally” to improve those conditions in ways that may not be as visible as arrests or other direct enforcement actions.

“Sometimes our solution or our violence interrupter is not necessarily arrests,” Glew said, “but maybe reaching out to some practices or business owners in the area who don’t have a good handle on what’s going on around their business, (or) landlords who don’t have a good handle on what’s going on with their tenants.”

Others asked whether the Evanston defendants’ homes could be declared “nuisance premises,” an ordinance for adopted in 2016Under this provision, properties where tenants or others are accused of only one or two violations can be forced to work with the city to agree to corrective measures, even without a criminal conviction.