Across the Country, Neighborhoods Gather, Celebrate National Night Out
In theory, National Night Out sounds a little strange — encourage thousands of residents, in cities nationwide to throw block parties and barbecues that will be attended by city law enforcement. In practice, National Night Out is a city-sanctioned, nationwide, one-night event to encourage residents to get to know their neighbors and reclaim their streets, […]
Lakeview Residents Voice Concerns About Safety
About 40 concerned local residents and police officers met earlier this month to discuss robberies and assaults that have occurred recently in Lakeview. Although crime rates have been decreasing, several residents said this is the most insecure they have felt in a long time. “Halsted used to be rough in the ’90s, but I felt […]
Family still mourns 23-year-old who took bullet for cousin
Elizabeth Ramirez’s face shines as she looks at all her son’s sports trophies hanging on the wall in her North Side basement. She has gathered eight family members and friends on a Monday evening earlier this spring to watch videos of her son, Harry Rodriguez. He was killed Oct. 23, 2011 – a week before […]
When my mommy cried, I cried
We had just walked in to our house with the mail when Mommy began sobbing uncontrollably. The letter she was reading congratulated my brother on his new summer job. But he was dead. My brother, Marlo Terry, was 21 when he was shot in the back after opening a bedroom door at a friend’s house. […]
Giving up on justice
Chiquita Davis is still haunted by the phone call she received Jan. 8, telling her the young man she had raised for nearly two decades was dead. Now, every time her cell phone rings, she fears it’s another call like that. But the one call she wants to get never seems to come – the one […]
Families question support after loved ones’ killings
When Donna Howard’s 18-year-old son was shot to death more than a year and a half ago, she didn’t know where to turn for support. “We were exhausted, crying and speaking on Facebook,” says Howard. Her son Delvonta Porter was killed Oct. 24, 2011, in the South Shore neighborhood, just blocks from home. Howard found […]
Unsolved homicide not forgotten
More than a year after a 20-year-old Chicago man was killed, friends and family continue to update his memorial Facebook page. “R.I.P Joel Verdugo” has garnered 275 likes with posts that express the sadness, anger and grief his friends and family have experienced since his death. An unknown assailant shot Verdugo in the head March […]
Final call to a friend
Antanice “Niecy” Ward lets out a giggle when she remembers the funny faces her friend Soraya Gibson used to make when talking about people. “She was very silly, very goofy. She always had everyone laughing,” she says. As Ward sits in her cook’s apron in the Lake View High School cafeteria where she worked with […]
Lonely anniversary
Mother’s Day was the one-year anniversary of Christopher Reeves’ death. His mother, Kimberly Reeves, marked the occasion by going to the store, buying a single white balloon and setting it free above her house in West Englewood – the same ritual she observed when her middle child missed his 22nd birthday in December. But aside […]
Killer on the line
Carla Allen’s voice shakes as she recalls the brief conversation she had with her daughter’s killer. “He called and asked me for forgiveness,” says Allen. “He said, ‘That was my friend. I didn’t mean to hurt my friend.’” The call came two years ago, just days after the May 30, 2011, killing of her 16-year-old […]
For some, the grieving never ends
She never knows when it’s going to happen. The last time it did, Darlene Clair-Clark was in the bathroom at work when she suddenly remembered she’s lost two sons to homicide and broke down. The 55-year-old mother of three wishes she could forget the losses and just remember the lives, but the pain she feels […]
Families say silence the norm after Chicago homicides
Victoria Alvarez, Veronica Lewis and Annette Cannon wonder if anyone will ever be charged with killing their sons. The three women share the same sad, seemingly unending journey of seeking justice for a loved one lost to violence – one that hundreds of other Chicago families know all too well. Cannon, whose 29-year-old son, Steven […]
Family seeks answers after 8th grader’s murder
Rocio Alvarado wonders if anyone will be charged with the shooting death of her 14-year-old brother. An unknown assailant shot Alejandro “Alex” Jaime May 18, 2012, as he rode his bike with a friend near his family’s home in Brighton Park just two weeks before the family had planned to move to a safer neighborhood. […]
Argument over basketball game takes parents’ only child
Basketball posters cover the walls of Tony McCoy Jr.’s room. Trophies from the sports teams he played on line the shelves, and an unorganized collection of CDs can be found throughout the room. There are enough gym shoes to equip an entire basketball team. It looks like any other teenage boy’s bedroom, except there’s a […]
Left in the dark
More than eight months after the killing of an Uptown salon owner, friends and family are growing impatient with the Chicago Police Department’s progress in finding her killer. Since Sept. 2, 2012, when 45-year-old Yolanda Holmes was found dead of multiple stab wounds and a gunshot wound to the head in her apartment, police have […]
Beverly residents want to see more police on the street
In light of a recent increase in neighborhood theft, Beverly residents are wondering where the police are. A number of residents have expressed concern about what they see as a lack of presence of Chicago police in the neighborhood. The Chicago Police Department reported a decrease in overall crime, but both the police and residents […]
CAPS wrap: Kenwood residents learn ways to fight crime
Residents in the Kenwood area learned more details at a recent CAPS meeting about the fatal shooting of Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old girl whose accidental death has drawn worldwide attention to gun violence in Chicago. Chicago police officer Denise Gathings told residents in attendance that the driver of the car from which shots were fired […]
CAPS wrap: Police warn of robberies in Ashburn neighborhood
Police warned Ashburn residents of criminals targeting the elderly at a CAPS meeting last month in the neighborhood on the city’s Southwest side. Held at Bogan High School, the CAPS meeting covered crime in Chicago Police District 8, beat 834, between Kedzie Avenue, Pulaski Road and Cicero Avenue, and the areas between 79th and 87th […]
