Police: 100 people present when fights lead to Bloomingdale hotel shooting, killing one
ssarkauskas@dailyherald.com
At least 100 people in two separate groups were on the fifth and sixth floors of a Bloomingdale hotel when fighting broke out, ending in a shooting that left at least a half-dozen people injured, one of whom later died, Bloomingdale Public Safety Director Frank Giammarese said Saturday.
James McGill Jr., 27, of the 7300 block of South Peoria Avenue in Chicago, was taken by friends to St. Alexius Hospital in Hoffman Estates, where he later died, Giammarese said at a news conference.
The Chicago Sun-Times, citing social media posts, said McGill was a rapper from the South Side whose cousin - rapper FBG Duck, whose legal name was Carlton Weekly - was gunned down last summer in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago. According to many social-media posts, McGill was known as FBG Meezle and BCR Meezle.
"It's senseless to me that the two groups of people are coming for a party or a rap video or whatever and people end up shooting each other and people are dying," Giammarese said.
Police were called at 2:35 a.m. to the Indian Lakes Hotel, 250 W. Schick Road. One patrol officer carried a shooting victim down six flights of stairs and others put tourniquets on victims even as some in the crowd harassed them, Giammarese said.
"There was not a lot of cooperation" from those present, he said. "Unfortunately there may have been even more (people injured) because over 100 people fled the hotel." No one is in custody, he said.
Recent years have seen a "drastic spike in crime" at the hotel, with reports of drug use, fights and weapons, he said. About six months ago, village officials sent a letter saying better lighting and more security staffing was needed, but Giammarese said he believes only one worker was on duty when the shooting occurred.
First Hospitality Group issued a statement Saturday, stating in part: "We have worked closely with the Village of Bloomingdale over many years to ensure the safety and security of all guests and associates of the hotel, and will continue to cooperate with this ongoing investigation."
But Bloomingdale Village President Franco Coladipietro said Saturday he wants the town to revoke all licenses for the hotel, which he said did not have any security workers present at the time of the shooting.
"Over the past several years, the village board and I have shared our concerns with the lack of consistent security presence at the hotel and the failure of First Hospitality to properly manage the property," he wrote on the village's Facebook page. "The unfortunate incident that occurred this morning may have been avoided if security was present as First Hospitality Group had promised in our meetings."
Shirley Young of Bartlett was staying at the hotel with her two dogs Thursday and Friday nights, while floors were being refinished at her home.
Young said a smoke alarm woke her at 2:30 a.m., and when it went off again about 15 minutes later, she called the front desk to find out if there was a fire. The desk clerk told her police were there and to stay in her room. She saw two women walk and run to a car that left.
Then she heard "boom-boom-boom-boom" on her door, with police knocking and ordering her to open it up immediately. They ordered her to lie face down on the ground, with her arms spread out. They searched under the bed, in the closet and bathroom, and in a connecting-door space.
Meanwhile, her two large dogs - a pit bull and a pit bull/mastiff mix - were running around. "Please don't shoot my dogs," she said she told them, afraid the friendly dogs would jump on the officers.
When she checked out Saturday morning, police made her use an elevator on the other side of the building, as the elevator near her was littered with blood and debris.
Indian Lakes Hotel has 310 rooms and is located at what used to be the Indian Lakes Resort. The resort had a conference center and a 27-hole golf course. The conference center and golf course closed in 2016. The village bought the golf course in December.
The mass shooting is under investigation by the Bloomingdale Police Department and the DuPage County Metropolitan Emergency Response and Investigation Team. Anyone with information is asked to call police at (630) 529-9868.
The case comes seven months after another mass shooting in DuPage County.
On June 27, a Maywood man was shot to death during a party at a short-term rental house in Roselle. More than 60 shots were fired in the fracas on Picton Road, according to police. Jamez Elem, 29, was killed, and four other people were injured. No charges have been filed; police said witnesses were uncooperative.