Rising safety concerns on the CTA after woman shot at Red Line stop

CHICAGO (CBS) — A woman is recovering after being shot on the CTA Red Line, and that is just the latest incident in a wave of violence involving Chicago’s mass transit system. The shooting happened as police continue to say they’re beefing up security. 

Just this week the CTA announced a renewed effort — getting canines to accompany armed guards to sniff out problems. 

It is violence that continues to hurt and traumatize riders. 

CTA rider Autumn Chestre was caught up in the chaos early Saturday morning, just after midnight on the Red Line. It all happened at the buse State and Lake stop in downtown. 

“Someone said there was a gun, and we all started running,” she said. “There was, like, a lot of screaming for like 20 minutes.” 

Chicago Police said someone shot a woman. Officers believe the shooter got into an argument with the victim. Medics took the 30-year-old woman to the hospital. She had been shot in the knee. 

The suspect got away. 

Just last Sunday another argument led to a man being shot in the thigh at the 69th Red Line stop. And last Sunday on the Green Line a woman stabbed a man on the Cottage Grove station platform. 

CBS 2 continues to follow crime on the CTA. As the latest statistics we tracked fro mearlier this month show, while overall crime is down, violent crime is up. 

The number of aggravated assaults and aggravated batteries, which include shootings and stabbings, have risen to the highest they have been since 2019. 

Earlier this month, Chicago Police Supt. David Brown talked about pulling officers from desk duty to patrol railways. A recent internal memo shows off-duty officers are also being used to police CTA trains. In turn, they would get paid time and a half for working on their off days.

And just this week – the transit system signed a $30 million contract with Action K9. It adds about 100 new unarmed guards with about 50 dogs. That’s in addition to the 300 unarmed guards already spread throughout trains.

Those dogs are also expected to help catch people who don’t pay their fares and jump turnstiles. 

While this sounds great, many people have reported to CBS 2 that they do not see extra patrols. 

CBS will continue to look and push police regarding the issue.