BRIDGEVIEW, IL — Diners were out enjoying a Sunday evening meal and celebrating graduations when a bullet went flying through a window at The Patio Restaurant in Bridgeview. One person, believed to be a minor, was reportedly shot outside the restaurant.
Chief Ricard Mancha, of the Bridgeview Police Department, told Patch that a dispute of some type started in the Menards parking lot, 9140 S. Harlem Ave., when it carried over to the Patio at 91st Street and Harlem Avenue, according to a preliminary investigation.
“A window was shot and possibly someone shot a minor who was transported to the hospital,” Mancha said. “We’re trying to verify now.”
Pablo Cruz was dining at the restaurant with girlfriend around 7 p.m. with his girlfriend when he heard what sounded like a chair falling.
“We had our food and were getting ready to leave when I heard a funny sound like a chair falling,” Cruz told Patch. “I didn’t hear a gunshot. Everybody hit the floor. I made my girlfriend hit the floor and I covered her. A man did the same thing with his 7-year-old daughter.”
Two older men from Brighton Park were sitting closest to the window and had been pierced by glass shards. They were both lying still on the floor, but they were just stunned. .
“I thought they were dead,” Cruz said.
Cruz said the bullet appeared to have pierced the window high up on the fourth panel.
“The only thing that scared me, I thought maybe the bullet ricocheted from inside the restaurant,” he said. “The bullet hole was quite large.”
As many as 40 people immediately evacuated the restaurant and ran outside, thinking it was an active shooting situation. Once Cruz ascertained that there was no more shooting, he and his girlfriend called police.
“There were screams like I never heard before. Small children were screaming,” Cruz said. “My girlfriend comforted a woman, who kept screaming that she couldn’t take it anymore.”
There was a blood trail leading to the bathroom inside the restaurant, which was closed off by crime tape. Cruz said he didn’t know if it came from the person who had reportedly been shot.
“The Bridgeview police came fast,” he said. “They couldn’t have been more professional. The Patio staff was wonderful. It’s heartbreaking.”
Source: patch
