The NBC drama, “Chicago Fire,” was being filmed inside a funeral home when a shooting took place close to the set.
The “unbelievable” sight that occurred Wednesday in front of A.A. Rayner & Sons Funeral Homes included gunshots close to a “Chicago Fire” set. Residents were confused because they believed the performers were real firefighters who decided not to tackle the fire until one actually broke out down the street.
Charles Childs Jr., director of the funeral home where the NBC show was being filmed, exclusively revealed to Fox News Digital that the cast had been practising putting out a genuine fire just before a suspect opened fire close to the set as a different incident was being reported down the block.
Authorities were called to the scene shortly after 1:45 p.m., almost immediately after the actual fire was reported, when “an unknown offender, armed with a handgun shot at a group of people standing in the 5900 block of W. Madison Street” close to the city’s Oak Park neighbourhood, according to the Chicago Police Department.
While neighbours were perplexed as to why the dozens of assumed firefighters in his lot weren’t responding to the fire down the street, they were unaware that the people they had been watching put out fires weren’t trained first responders but rather actors, according to Childs Jr., who described the situation as “chaotic.”
Shooting near set in Oak Park halts production of “Chicago Fire,” according to police, who also confirm that the shooter “fled scene.”
Childs Jr. described the overall setting at A.A. Rayner & Sons Funeral Homes on Madison Street: “We had the honour of being selected to be in an episode of “Chicago Fire,” and the crew was standing outside when all of a sudden they were getting ready to perform a shoot.”
“First, a fire started in the next-door neighbourhood on 1500 West Madison. The Chicago Fire Department (CFD) then reacted to the incident, and as they were doing so, people noticed the ‘Chicago Fire’ television cast and crew who were only one block away and questioned why they weren’t responding to the actual fire.”
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As people scurried around screaming for help from the actors, believing they were first responders who just weren’t responding, Charles said the confusion could have been the plot of a best-selling book.
It was a staged fire at the funeral home, and the players were merely carrying out their duties, he claimed. “So, while everything was going on, some moron pulled out a gun and started shooting at everybody. We don’t know who was the intended victim. We are unaware of the attacker’s identity.”
The suspect fled the area in a “black colour SUV,” but “no one was struck,” and CPD detectives are looking into the crime.
Because so many things were happening at once, Childs Jr. said, “It was pandemonium.” “What makes someone do that? Police officers were present. There were security officers on duty. Simply put, the scenario was amazing.”
Added he, “One of those days it was. This could not have been written in a novel.”
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Childs Jr. estimated that there were about 70 individuals near his funeral home or present at the production, and one of them may have sustained significant injuries.
He replied, “Someone may have been killed, shot accidently.” “Simply put, we don’t know what this person’s thoughts were at the time. We do not comprehend it “said he.
The Dick Wolf thriller, starring Jesse Spencer, Kara Killmer, David Eigenberg, and Lady Gaga’s ex-fiance, Taylor Kinney, had numerous security agents present.
Childs Jr. remarked that everything was “so crazy” and “confusing” between the police signals and the sirens blasting from the firefighters battling the fire across the street.
