Shooting last night at 5480 Cornell

A reader has emailed to report:

Man shot by another man in my apt. building at 5480 Cornell last night. Shooting was in self defense, victim of shooting was threatening to break shooter's skull with a vodka bottle.

Thanks to the reader for sending for the news tip.

October 19: Additional details:

A 24-year-old Hyde Park resident who was registered at one time as a U of C student is in critical condition after being shot in the chest during an altercation with a neighbor Wednesday night. The neighbor, 48, was found by the state attorney to have acted in self-defense, and no charges will be filed.

“Apparently the 24-year-old guy and his friend were in the lobby around 7:30, extremely drunk, and came up to the man while he was checking his mail and made fun of him for being fat,” said Brian Hinkle (A.B. ’07), who also lives in their apartment building at 5480 South Cornell Avenue. “They then went up in the elevator with him, continuing to yell at him and then pushed him.”

ccording to police, the men followed the 48-year-old, whom Hinkle was able to identify by the first name Everett, into the fourth-floor hallway and then “verbally and physically assaulted him,” at one point striking him with a vodka bottle.

“The 24-year-old threatened the 48-year-old, started hitting him, yelling at him, and then followed the older man down the hallway,” said Chicago Police Officer JoAnn Taylor.

As the older man tried to enter his apartment, his younger assailant kicked in the door behind him and continued to attack him. The older man then retrieved a gun from inside his apartment and shot the 24-year old.

“By virtue of being a security guard, the guy had a .38 snub nose revolver in his apartment, so he grabbed it and shot him once in the chest,” Hinkle said. “It’s actually a miracle he’s alive; the bullet went in right near his heart. When my neighbor came out to perform first aid she thought he was dead because he didn’t get up at all.”

Additional details are now available here and here.