Police are asking for the public’s help in the search for a gunman who fatally shot an 18-year-old man during an ‘exchange’ in a Walgreens parking lot in Mundelein on Thursday.
The Mundelein Police Department and Mundelein Fire Department responded around 12:55 p.m. Thursday to the 300 block of North Lake Street for a report of a shooting.
Officers arrived and found a person shot in a parking lot near the Walgreens. Police said the shooting was an “isolated incident” involving a small group of people.
The victim had a planned meet-up in the parking lot of the Walgreens for “some type of exchange” with a known acquaintance, Mundelein Police Chief Eric Guenther said.
The acquaintance arrived and exited the passenger seat of a vehicle before shooting the 18-year-old victim. After the shooting, the suspect fled on foot and the driver of the vehicle fled in the vehicle.
The victim suffered life-threatening wounds and was transported by ambulance to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville where he was pronounced dead.
The Lake County Major Crimes Task Force and numerous police departments responded to the scene. Heavy police activity was seen at the intersection Hawley Street and Seymour Avenue and Route 45 and Hawley Street as officers investigated.
“Based on the circumstances the victim appears to have been specifically targeted and this was not a random act of violence,” Guenther said.
Crime scene tape was put up in the parking lot of the Walgreens and in a parking lot near the Azteca Restaurant on Seymour Avenue. Route 45 and side streets near the shooting have since been reopened to traffic.
Guenther said that officers were not involved in the shooting despite rumors on social media. The shooter has not been arrested yet and police continue to search for them.
Lake County Coroner Dr. Howard Cooper said that an autopsy is being scheduled on the teen, whose name is being withheld pending notification to their next of kin.
Anyone with information about the shooting is encouraged to call investigators at 847-968-4600 or Lake County Crime Stoppers at 847-662-2222.