A second Chicago-based TV production was on alert after gunshots were fired near the set Wednesday afternoon. According to Deadline, NBC’s Chicago Fire was in the middle of filming when a gunman began firing at a group of people near the 5900 block of West Madison. No injuries were reported as the suspect fled in a dark-colored SUV.
This is the second incident of its kind to happen to a production crew in Chicago. This past July the cast and crew of FX’s sequel series, Justified: City Primeval, were witness to a car chase that turned violent in the city streets. Two vehicles raced toward the TV set exchanging gunfire and crashed through the barriers surrounding the set. Justified star Timothy Olyphant (The Crazies) was said to have pushed another individual out of the way to safety. Because of this prior incident, measures to increase the security presence on other sets were already in place.
Unexpected gunfire also targeted a second Dick Wolf production in New York. This summer a crewmember of NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime was shot and killed as he sat in a vehicle prior to filming early one morning. The victim, 31-year-old Johnny Pizarro, served as parking enforcement officer for the show. As of August, investigators had narrowed down a possible suspect after surveillance footage pinpointed Pizarro had been followed by a man on a bicycle minutes before the shooting, via the New York Post.
Chicago Fire, currently filming its 11th season, is one of three Wolf-created shows set in the Windy City. Joining the drama series about a Chicago-based fire station are Chicago PD and Chicago Med. All three air consecutively on Wednesday evenings from 8 to 11 p.m. ET. Wolf also is behind two other three-hour blocks of primetime television throughout the week. NBC’s Thursday block is occupied by the rebooted Law & Order, Law & Order: Organized Crime, and Law & Order: SVU. And on Tuesdays, CBS airs the trifecta of FBI, FBI: Most Wanted, and FBI: International.