A 22-year-old man has been arrested on attempted murder charges after prosecutors said surveillance footage, cellphone data and ballistics tests linked him to the March 30 shooting near the Magnificent Mile that wounded two bystanders, including a woman who was hit by a bullet in the thigh.
Jesus Abu Bakr was taken into custody in Grundy County and ordered by Cook County Judge Deidre Dyer on charges including two counts of attempted murder, aggravated battery by discharging a firearm and aggravated battery causing great bodily harm.
According to prosecutors, CPD surveillance cameras captured Abu Bakr’s gray 2018 BMW near the intersection of Chicago and Wabash Avenue on March 30 around 9:21 p.m. A man driving a red Dodge Charger pulled up next to the BMW, stopped for a few seconds and then drove away with the BMW following behind him. As the two cars passed a tavern on Chicago Avenue, Abu Bakr reached a gun out of the driver’s side window and fired several shots at the Charger. Someone in another car also opened fire on the Charger, prosecutors said.
A 25-year-old woman walking west on the sidewalk ran for cover but was struck in the left thigh and fell to the ground. The Charger suffered bullet impacts and the driver lost control and crashed into parked cars along Chicago Avenue. The force of the crash pushed the parked cars forward into a man who had taken cover to avoid the gunfire, breaking both his legs, prosecutors said. The driver of the Charger was not shot and fled the scene on foot. The cars with the gunmen also left the area.
Investigators traced the BMW to Abu Bakr via the license plate. A warrant for his cellphone records would have placed his phone near the shooting when it occurred.
Then on April 17, officers heard gunfire in the 1600 block of North Talman Avenue in Logan Square and reportedly saw Abu Bakr’s BMW leaving the area. They followed it until it crashed and three people ran from the wreckage. A search of the vehicle turned up a 9mm handgun on the driver’s side, along with shell casings matching those found in the March 30 shooting, prosecutors said. Forensic testing later showed that one shell casing from the downtown shooting had been fired from the gun found in Abu Bakr’s BMW, the charges said.
A witness also singled out Abu Bakr from a live lineup and identified him as one of the gunmen who were shooting on March 30, prosecutors said.
Abu Bakr’s legal troubles did not start with the March 30 shooting. Court records show he has an ongoing case charging him with aggravated assault and resisting police, following allegations he pretended he was about to throw something at officers arresting another person on the Gold Coast on March 12. According to a CPD report, Abu Bakr then ran from officers, and when they caught up to him, he allegedly repeated, “All I did was fake pump.”
He failed to show up for a hearing in that case on April 20, three days after he was reportedly rescued from the crashed BMW in Logan Square. Court records also show he had an active failure to appear warrant in LaSalle County.
As for the man, prosecutors say Abu Bakr tried to shoot on March 30: CWB Chicago reported in 2021 that he was accused of carjacking a man at gunpoint in Lincoln Park, a stature that earned him an 11-year prison sentence. Yet records show he was released from prison after less than four years. CPD arrested him last month on charges of being a felon in possession of a weapon. His parole has now been revoked and he is scheduled to be eligible for release again in July 2028.
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