Chicago police shut down River North nightclub one day after mass shooting

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Chicago police have shut down a River North nightclub a day after a mass shooting occurred outside the establishment.

A summary closure order was issued Monday to Blüm Restaurant & Bar, 316 W. Erie St., according to Chicago police.

A group of people were fighting outside the bar about 2:40 a.m. Sunday when gunfire erupted, police said.

Five people were taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital with gunshot wounds. Two men were in critical condition. A 27-year-old woman, a 25-year-old man and a 27-year-old man were in good condition or stabilized at the hospital.

Three others who were also shot were taken to Stroger Hospital: A 23-year-old woman, a 43-year-old woman and a 32-year-old man, police said. The man and the older woman were in critical condition.

Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) sent out a community message Sunday calling on CPD to issue a summary closure order to the business to ensure it doesn’t open before the building is sold next month and Blüm is evicted.

Blüm is owned by So Clutch Group, which operates a number of restaurants, bars and nightclubs in Texas.

One River North resident told the Sun-Times he and his fiancee were woken up by 30 gunshots Sunday morning

“This is probably the second or third time that we have heard gunshots, so unfortunately we weren’t too panicked because we knew what was happening, and we are in a safe, guarded building,” Brendan Hill said.

Hill said he wasn’t surprised that the shooting happened outside the restaurant because it’s common for large crowds to gather there late at night or early in the morning.

Since the city’s summary closure ordinance was enacted in 2015, granting the police department the power to immediately close businesses associated with violence, the majority of the establishments shuttered have in low-income neighborhoods on the South Side and the West Side, a 2022 Chicago Sun-Times investigation has found — despite the surge of violence in downtown over recent years.



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