Man Fatally Shot At The McCormick Place Hyatt In The South Loop
By Mae Rice in News on Jan 25, 2016 3:52PM
A man was fatally shot and a woman was found unresponsive in her bathroom at the Hyatt Regency hotel at McCormick Place in the South Loop this weekend.
An unknown assailant killed the 25-year-old man at around 2 a.m. on Saturday morning, according to police. He was with a group of men who caused "a disturbance," police say. The gathering was a birthday party, and the victim's name was Courtney Taylor, the Tribune reports.
Taylor was shot in the head, according to the police. Overall, he suffered multiple gunshot wounds, the Cook County Medical Examiner told the Tribune.
Afterwards, his body was left in the lobby surrounded by crime tape, according to the Tribune—remnants of the once-festive scene, including an empty Patron bottle, lying nearby.
About an hour after his death, his mother showed up at the hotel. According to the Tribune:
[She] saw her son’s body through the window and walked inside the lobby, pleading with the officers to let her see him.“Please, let me see my son,” the woman yelled as she stood near the yellow crime tape. “How did this happen? Here? This ain’t Englewood!”
Officers told her she couldn't approach her son's body because police were still investigating the shooting.
The next morning, an unnamed 24-year-old woman died at the same hotel, according to police, albeit much less publicly. She was found unresponsive in her bathroom at 7:20 a.m. on Sunday morning, in what police believe was a suicide. (The Tribune reports that she appeared to have hung herself.)
Both Taylor and the woman were pronounced dead at the hotel.
The hotel called the Saturday shooting an “isolated incident,” and said they were taking rigorous safety precautions, in a statement on Saturday afternoon, the Tribune reported. Within less than 24 hours, there was another death on the premises.
The most recent post on the hotel’s Facebook page, posted 18 hours ago—after both deaths—says “Watching football today? We're just 2 weeks away from the 'BIG GAME' and M/X Lounge will be the place to be!” It's accompanied by a photo of a clean, empty bar.