CHICAGO — The man shot on a busy Lincoln Park street last week died Monday afternoon, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office, which identified the victim as Alexander Nesteruk, 34, of Wheaton.
Witnesses said Nesteruk confronted people and got in their faces on the sidewalk in the 2500 block of North Clark last Wednesday, Nov. 27 around 3:58 p.m. At one point, an “altercation” broke out and another man pulled a gun. and shot Nesteruk in the chest, according to Chicago police. The gunman fled on foot south onto Clark Street.
“There is reason to believe this is an isolated incident where the victim and perpetrator had a pre-existing relationship,” Ald. Timmy Knudsen (43rd) said in an email to voters after the shooting, adding that the matter remains under investigation.
“Initial reports indicate the victim was exhibiting erratic and dangerous behavior at the time of the shooting and had aggressively interacted with the perpetrator prior to the incident,” Knudsen said.
Unless officials decide the shooter acted in self-defense, Nesteruk will be Lincoln Park’s first homicide victim of 2024.
In January, the medical examiner ruled that a 43-year-old man was found dead in an apartment in the 500 block of West Deming, killed in a homicide by asphyxiation and assault. However, Chicago police are no longer calling the incident a criminal act. Detectives interviewed the man who called 911 from the apartment, but he was never charged with any wrongdoing.
The most recent homicide in Lincoln Park before this year occurred on October 16, 2022 at the J. Parker Rooftop Lounge at Hotel Lincoln, 1816 North Clark. Prosecutors have charged 28-year-old Parrish Jefferson in the shooting. He is under electronic monitoring pending trial.
