Jackson Smith, 22, and Eric Quigley, 21, stand near where they hit the ground after gunfire erupted behind them Tuesday night. View Full Caption DNAinfo/Benjamin Woodard

EDGEWATER — When three friends walked by a group of five or six men huddled in silence between two cars Tuesday night, they all felt a little uneasy — like something wasn't right.

Then, after taking a few more steps, they heard shots — and saw a gunman as he fired at a fleeing car just 20 feet away from them, shattering its rear window.

The three fled — and quickly found two Chicago Police officers sitting in a nearby squad car. The witnesses say they were taken aback by what they described as the officers' nonchalant response to the shooting.

Ben Woodard explains what happened Tuesday night and what police are saying:

The officers allegedly "chuckled," told the group they called it in already and didn't head toward the scene or ask for a witness statement.

"If they heard the gunshots, they had no concern," said Eric Quigley, 21, a musician. "What other reason to have a badge than that very moment?"

Another friend was so upset by the incident that he posted his concerns on Reddit — a post which had generated 200 comments by midday Thursday.

"I don't know if there's a reason he ... didn't get out to go investigate, but his laughter still boils my blood," wrote Jackson Smith, 22, a bartender. "As a civilian, it should be my responsibility to 'call it in' and your responsibility to go ... do something about it."

In a statement issued Thursday afternoon, Chicago Police spokesman Martin Maloney did not mention the specific incident, but said that "community policing and fostering stronger relationships with the communities we all serve is the foundation of our policing philosophy. Over the past three years CPD has led a return to community policing to build relationships between officers and residents, and we have instituted new training, mandatory for all officers, focused on how they are to interact with residents."

Police previously confirmed a 27-year-old man was shot about 7:50 p.m. Tuesday in the 6000 block of North Winthrop Avenue. A spokeswoman said the victim took himself to Weiss Hospital with gunshot wounds to the back and left thigh and had been listed in stable condition.

Smith, who recently moved to Chicago from Kane County, said he and his two friends live in the area and were on their way to buy beer at Castle Food & Liquor, 1128 W. Thorndale Ave., when they heard the shots.

"Once we got, I'd say 15 to 20 feet away from the corner, we heard a couple pops, and they were all in succession," said Smith.

Smith said they hit the ground to take cover after turning around to see a gunman in a red hoodie, arms extended out, pump about six shots into the back of a fleeing car just feet away from them at the corner of Thorndale and Winthrop avenues. The shots shattered the rear windshield of the car. There appeared to be only one person inside it, they said.

"You could see the fire shooting out of the gun after every shot. ... We heard bullets whizzing by hitting trees," Smith added.

Added Quigley: "It wasn't 'Saving Private Ryan,' but it was intense," he said.

The other friend, Xiomara Hussein, was walking ahead of them when the gunfire erupted. She ducked around the corner of a building to avoid the bullets. The men who had been standing between the cars scattered.

"I was ... scared about it — just the idea that I could have got shot," she said.

When the gunfire subsided, the three friends ran west on Thorndale and saw the two police officers sitting in an SUV, east of the "L" tracks.

" 'You heard the six gunshots, right?' " Quigley said he asked the officers.

"They had smiles on their faces, and they were chuckling," Quigley said.

He said the officers responded that they had already called in the shots and help was on the way.

The three continued to the store to buy beer, but when they left the officers they talked to were still in the same place. They eventually headed back toward the developing crime scene on Winthrop, where many more police had arrived and the block had been cordoned off.

Smith said he was surprised by the response online to his Reddit post, which he titled, "I was witness to the shooting in Edgewater last night."

While many debated about whether the neighborhood was safe, some understood the police reaction.

"I'm definitely not one to defend cops, but laughing about near death experiences is one of the most common ways they learn to deal with putting their life on the line every day," one person wrote.

Smith said he was happy to see that residents cared — and that he and his friends were OK.

"I was happy that people were concerned," he said. "We were just lucky we were able to get away without catching something from it."

For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here: