Drifting Caravan Shuts Down 111th and Western in Morgan Park, Police Investigate

A caravan of drivers took over the intersection of 111th Street and Western Avenue in Morgan Park late Saturday, blocking traffic for several minutes while cars spun donuts in the roadway and a crowd of onlookers gathered on foot to record it.

The takeover began around 11:40 p.m., according to the Chicago Police Department's 22nd District and Ald. Matt O'Shea, who represents the 19th Ward. Video circulating online shows several vehicles drifting through the intersection in tight loops as other cars and pedestrians blocked side streets to keep space open for the stunts.

Residents near the intersection called 911 as the noise built. Julie Rave, 60, who lives within a block of 111th and Western, said she was woken up by the commotion.

"All you could hear was the tires screeching and the backfiring," Rave said.

Some of that noise led to early reports that shots had been fired, but police and O'Shea confirmed no gunfire took place. O'Shea said the vehicles involved had modified exhaust systems designed to backfire loudly, a sound that can be mistaken for gunshots by people hearing it from inside their homes.

Police moved fast once the calls came in. O'Shea said officers reached the intersection and broke up the takeover in two minutes and 51 seconds. Rave said she could hear the response arrive within minutes of the noise starting, something she said she hadn't experienced in the neighborhood before.

The cars scattered south on Western Avenue into Blue Island as officers arrived. No one was arrested Saturday night, and the 22nd District said it is reviewing surveillance footage, including its own pod cameras in the area, and has asked nearby businesses to turn over any video they have. O'Shea said if police can identify license plates from the footage, those vehicles will be impounded.

O'Shea said the group involved wasn't just active in Morgan Park that night. "This group was responsible for multiple incidents across the city throughout the night Saturday," he said, describing a pattern in which drivers coordinate through a phone app with thousands of members, agree on a location, perform their stunts, then move to another spot before police can catch up.

"They communicate, and they'll meet up, and then they'll go here, and they'll go there," O'Shea said. "Sometimes the Chicago Police Department is able to track ... but they change up their plan as the night progresses."

Street takeovers of this kind happen almost every weekend somewhere in Chicago, O'Shea said, though he noted they rarely land in his ward. The Southwest Side has seen a string of similar incidents in recent months. In July, a man was fatally shot during a street racing gathering in the Ford City Mall parking lot in West Lawn. In McKinley Park, a retail strip has increased security after takeover events left cars damaged in a shopping center parking lot. A comparable takeover hit an intersection in Beverly in February 2024, when fleeing drivers damaged residential yards, a golf course and a suburban police vehicle.

O'Shea said the department's hands are partly tied by policy limiting vehicle pursuits, which he said makes the underlying problem hard to solve even when officers respond quickly.

"The police department has pursuit constraints, so this is a problem that is not easily solvable," he said.

The 22nd District's review of pod camera and business surveillance footage is ongoing, and no timeline has been given for when any vehicles or drivers might be identified. O'Shea said residents with footage of the incident are being asked to share it with the 22nd District as investigators continue reviewing surveillance video.