Former Aramark employee at UI Health at large after shooting 2 people in Chicago home, UIC officials say
A manhunt continued Tuesday night for a foodservice worker at UI Health who is at large after authorities said he threatened someone at the hospital with a gun the day before, got arrested and released, and then allegedly shot two people in a Chicago home.
University of Illinois Chicago police beefed up security and alerted everyone on campus Tuesday out of fears that the former contracted Aramark foodservice employee, Glenn Rhymes, could return. Campus police said they know he brought a weapon to work, and now he is accused of getting more guns and shooting two others at the West Side home of a coworker.
UIC police said Rhymes showed up with a gun in the lobby of the outpatient care center at UI Health. No shots were ever fired in that incident, but campus police said they detained him and recovered the weapon.
UIC police said they then booked Rhymes after he got into a quarrel with someone in the South Tower of the UIC Outpatient Care Center, at 1801 W. Taylor St. This happened just before noon Monday.
UIC police released Rhymes from custody a short time later. They listed the incident in their crime log, noting he was charged with having a firearm in a prohibited location. It's not clear how or why Rhymes was released.
More than 12 hours after the initial incident, two people were shot while walking outside an apartment building in the first block of North Lavergne Avenue between Washington Boulevard and Madison Street, in the West Side's South Austin neighborhood.
Chicago police said a preliminary investigation indicated that at 2:33 a.m. Tuesday, the victims were walking outside when a black vehicle went by, and four men inside opened fire from within the vehicle. A 39-year-old man was shot multiple times, while a 35-year-olld woman suffered a graze wound to the head. Both were taken to Stroger Hospital of Cook County in good condition, police said.
Bullets shattered glass doors in the Lavergne Avenue shooting, and police sources said close to 40 shots were fired.
UIC police said they learned Rhymes shot another Aramark employee in that incident, which prompted the hospital to warn everyone on campus of the threat. Chicago police sources said the 39-year-old man shot in the Lavergne Avenue incident was the one who worked for Aramark.
Sources said neither he nor the woman with him who was grazed by a bullet saw who fired at them.
Police source said soon after officers responded to the double shooting on Lavergne Avenue, they discovered Rhymes went live on social media — claiming he shot two people and was mad at law enforcement.
This was another reason UIC police alerted the campus.
Much remained unclear Tuesday night. Besides Rhymes' whereabouts remaining unknown, police have not connected him to the double shooting in the South Austin neighborhood.
Source said they believe more than one gun was used in that shooting, but the gun found at the hospital was not among them — as UIC police recovered that gun before the shooting.
On Tuesday, UIC public safety officials alerted the campus to police activity at 1801 W. Taylor St. Officials said the activity was precautionary but related to the incident Monday.
UIC students received an all-clear alert late Tuesday afternoon.
CBS News Chicago has reached out to the Cook County State's Attorney's Office to see if they approved any charges and learn why the suspect wasn't required to report to court Tuesday. There had not been an answer as of Tuesday night.
If you see Rhymes or have an information about his whereabouts, UIC officials are asking you contact university police at 312-355-5555 or contact Chicago police by calling 911.
