District 202 Teacher Heard Shots that Killed Man near U of I: Report

A Naperville woman who teaches at Plainfield School District 202 was out celebrating her 23rd birthday with University of Illinois graduates when she heard the shots that killed a Mundelein man.

“I was walking (west) toward Third Street and I noticed to the right of me a large group of people. I did think it was very odd at 12:40 a.m. there were at least 100 people, if not more. It seemed like an organized gathering. My instinct said ‘Something is not right.’ I whispered that to my friend,” Kathryn Lawlor told The News-Gazette.

She then began recording the events on Snapchat. Within seconds, shots rings out. Lawlor told the paper that people began screaming.

That’s when Lawlor knew she and her friends needed to find cover. She ran into a high-rise apartment building where residents allowed her to come in. She watched police work from the 19th floor of the complex, according to the article.

“As we were going in (309) we were telling people, ‘Don’t go out. There’s been a shooting.’ Within five minutes we were up there. Through the elevator, there were so many sirens, you could hear it through it the building. We counted 15 police cars when we got up there,” Lawlor said in the article.

The murdered man, George Korchev, was visiting the campus to spend time with friends and celebrate a recent job offer, according to the Chicago Tribune. He was supposed to start as a full-time nurse at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville today.

The shooting occurred after a fight broke out in the 300 block of East Green Street in Champaign at about 12:38 a.m., according to the Chicago Tribune. Korchev was taken to Carle Foundation Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 1:02 a.m. Gunfire also broke out at 1:08 a.m. in the 700 block of South State Street where police found another gunshot victim.

Of the four surviving shooting victims, three have been discharged and one remains hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, according to police. A pedestrian fleeing the gunfire was struck by a car on East Green Street. He received minor injuries and has been “cooperating with law enforcement,” police said.

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