Chicago Man Wears Bulletproof Vest When He Drives, In Case Of 'Random Violence'

By Mae Rice in News on May 24, 2016 6:33PM

Gun violence in Chicago is on the meteoric rise. There have been more than 1,300 people shot in the city in 2016 so far, and the first quarter of 2016 represented a return to '90s homicide levels. That rise is especially apparent, for some reason, on Chicago roadways, where there's been a recent rash of gun violence.

We've reported on several expressway shootings. The one on Friday, for instance, in which a man was shot in the face while driving a semi tractor on the Dan Ryan; or the one on Thursday, in which two people were shot, one in the head, after a "road rage incident" that started on Lake Shore.

That still doesn't cover the gun violence narrowly avoided, though. WGN has a story about just that, from their own radio producer, Brian Althimer. Ever since his close call, he wears a bulletproof vest he had handy—he used to be Marine and a bouncer—to drive anywhere in Chicagoland.

Early on Saturday morning, Althimer told WGN, he was driving on Lake Shore Drive when an SUV pulled up next to his car, and a male passenger waved a gun at him. Althimer said he slammed on his brakes, got away and called the cops. (The Chicago Police Department's office of news affairs had not been notified of such a call, but that doesn't mean he didn't place it.)

He told WGN that he wears his bulletproof vest in case of "random violence" on the highways.

See Althimer talk about his ordeal in this video, starting at the 1:15 mark: