Chicago Sun-Times: All posts by Rosemary Sobol

Death of woman found in Auburn Gresham trash bin ruled homicide: officials

2023-12-14T08:22:03.418-06:00

The death of a woman found in a garbage bin Tuesday morning has been ruled a homicide, officials said.

A Streets and Sanitation worker found her body while checking a garbage bin before loading the trash into the truck about 8:30 a.m. in an alley in the 8500 block of South Vincennes Avenue, according to a police report

The still-unidentified woman, who was 43, was partially clothed and her hands and feet were bound, according to the report.

She was dead on the scene and an autopsy Tuesday determined she died of multiple injuries from an assault, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Her death was ruled a homicide.

Area detectives are investigating but nobody was in custody.

Charges pending after boy, 15, sexually assaulted in Loop

2023-12-08T07:33:44.545-06:00

Charges were pending Friday for a suspect who allegedly molested a 15-year-old boy at a convenience store in the Loop, Chicago police said.

The victim told police that a man approached him inside the store and began to “grab” him about 9:30 p.m. Thursday in the first block of West Jackson Boulevard.

The boy ran away, and officers called to the scene placed the suspect in custody, according to police.

No charges had been announced as of 7:30 a.m.

Area 3 detectives are investigating.

Off-duty Chicago cop strikes, kills pedestrian near House of Blues in River North

2023-12-08T06:25:35.439-06:00

An off-duty Chicago police officer was driving early Thursday near the House of Blues on State Street when she struck and killed a pedestrian, according to a police report and sources. Another pedestrian was injured. The driver was cited.

ABC7 Chicago

An off-duty Chicago cop struck and killed a woman early Thursday after becoming distracted because of her phone and veering onto a sidewalk near the House of Blues in River North, according to a police report and sources.

The 40-year-old officer was driving an Infiniti SUV in the 300 block of North State Street about 12:30 a.m. Thursday. She told officers that she had dropped her phone and had taken her eyes off the road to grab it, the report said.

When she looked up, the driver said, she feared she was going to hit a median and lost control as she turned the other way, according to the report. She crashed into two Texas women, a 37-year-old and 56-year-old Maria Schwab.

They were taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where Schwab was pronounced dead. An examination determined Schwab died of multiple injuries from the wreck and her death was ruled an accident, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. The younger woman was treated for bruises on her knees and a cut on her hand.

Schwab was on a work outing with Amplify, an educational technology and publishing company, a company spokesperson said.

“This day has been very challenging for everybody,” Amplify spokesperson Kristine Frech told the Sun-Times. “We are deeply saddened and grieving for this sudden loss.”

“All our colleagues are going to do anything in our power to support the family and our colleagues as we process this tragedy,” said Frech, who wasn’t on the outing.

Law enforcement sources identified the driver as a police officer. The report shows responding officers didn’t offer her a blood-alcohol test at the scene.

The driver was cited for negligent driving, driving while using a cellphone, failing to reduce her speed and failing to stay in her lane.

She was relieved of her police powers Thursday, according to a Chicago police spokesperson, who said an investigation is ongoing. The driver didn’t respond to a message seeking comment.

Contributing: Frank Main

West Side fire kills man, leaves his mom, 2 cops injured

2023-12-06T18:38:20.323-06:00

A man is dead and a woman was in critical condition Wednesday after a fire swept through their home in the 1200 block of South Kedvale Avenue in Lawndale.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

A fire tore through a Lawndale home Wednesday, critically injuring a beloved community matriarch and killing her adult son.

Dessie Street escaped the flames on her own and collapsed outside her home at 1249 S. Kedvale Ave.

The body of her son, Carlos Street, was later recovered in the charred wreckage. He likely tried to flee but was crushed by debris near the front door, Chicago Fire Department officials said.

Two Chicago police officers arrived just after 1 a.m. before fire crews. They were injured when the front porch collapsed as they searched for Carlos Street, authorities said.

One officer was pulled from the burning debris and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in serious condition. He has since stabilized. The other officer, whose leg was caught in the rubble, was treated at Rush University Medical Center and has been released.

Dessie Street, 75, was initially taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition, where she was intubated, Chicago Fire Department spokesperson Larry Langford said Wednesday afternoon. She suffered burns and smoke inhalation.

She was stabilized and taken to the hospital’s burn unit, her brother, Joseph Johnson, said Wednesday evening.

“She’s doing a little better, we’re praying for the best, so that’s the good thing,” Johnson said.

Johnson identified Dessie and Carlos Street for the Sun-Times. He stood outside for hours Wednesday morning as fire crews used an excavator to take apart the gutted home searching for his nephew.

“I’m hurt, I also feel numb. I’ve been crying all morning,” Johnson said. “At the same time, I gotta keep it together for my family.”

An excavator tears into a Lawndale house as fire crews searched for a missing man. The man, Carlos Street, was found dead. His mother is hospitalized with burns and smoke inhalation.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Johnson said Carlos Street was a “real sweet kid” in his 30s and had special needs.

Carlos Street enjoyed video games and had a talent for working with computers, Johnson said.

He lived with his mom, a seamstress who ran her business out of the home and had lived there for 25 years, Johnson said.

Relatives and neighbors described her as a leader and community matriarch who would always lend a helping hand. She was often available to provide a last-minute hem on a dress or to patch a hole.

“She’s like a mother to everybody in the neighborhood,” Johnson said of his older sister.

Her birthday is Thursday, Johnson said. For every birthday, he brings her poinsettia flowers and Champagne to celebrate.

“She raised me. My mother died when I was 14, so she’s always been like a second mother to me,” Johnson said.

Portions of the fire-gutted home in the 1200 block of South Kedvale Avenue in Lawndale were torn down in the search for a missing resident.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Next-door neighbor Sylvester Jackson said he was awakened by Dessie Street yelling for help before firefighters knocked on his door to warn him about the fire.

“I’m thinking, ‘Oh my God, I’m gonna be homeless,’” Jackson told the Sun-Times. “That’s the first thing that came to my mind. I’m looking at this horrific fire.”

He saw Street collapsed and covered with cuts and scrapes outside her home.

“It hit me hard, seeing her down on the ground like that,” Jackson said.

Jackson, 62, said he’s known Dessie Street and her family his whole life. He was good friends with one of her brothers when they were growing up, and their two families have been close for generations.

“She’s a real special lady; it’s just awful this happened to her,” Jackson said.

The cause of Wednesday morning’s fire at 1249 S. Kedvale remains under investigation.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

The search for Carlos Street

During a news conference at the fire scene, fire department District Chief Jim McDonough said the police officers were in the area and arrived ahead of firefighters when the 12-by-12-foot porch collapsed.

“They went in to look for the second victim,” McDonough said. “They kicked the front door in, and the amount of fire and smoke came over them, and that front porch came loose.”

The attic collapsed onto the first floor of the home, officials said, burying Carlos Street under several feet of debris. It took crews hours to recover his body.

“He was found on the first floor, in the front, not too far from the front door,” Langford said. “He must have been trying to make his way out.”

The flames died down by 8 a.m., and gas service was shut off so the fire department could use heavy equipment to dismantle the structure and search for Carlos Street.

Before Street’s body was found, fire department Cmdr. Walter Schroeder said officials knew one person might still be inside, but firefighters were not able to get into the building because they feared it could collapse.

Before she was taken away in an ambulance, Dessie Street told firefighters and officers she thought her son was still inside, Langford said.

Fire crews tore the house down Wednesday morning. The cause of the fire remains unknown, Langford said, and determining a cause might be impossible given the damage.

“The forensic evidence is pretty much destroyed as the building was taken apart, so we’re gonna have to go on witness statements,” Langford said. “It’s going to take a while, if we ever know.”

A firefighter stands in front of the Lawndale house where resident Carlos Street was killed in a fire Wednesday morning.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Walgreens workers bound, robbed at gunpoint in Chicago’s Gold Coast

2023-12-04T19:16:15.259-06:00

The Walgreens at 933 N. State St. is where armed robbers made off with about $10,000 from the store’s safe on Sunday.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

Two masked men tied up Walgreens employees during an armed robbery in the Gold Coast neighborhood late Sunday, before running out a suitcase containing about $10,000 in stolen loot.

No one was injured in the attack, which began about 9:40 p.m., when one robber confronted a worker in the back of the store at 933 N. State St., placed the butt of a black gun against his spine and told him to “open the door,” according to a police report.

Once in the back office, the employee and another staffer who was counting money were held at gunpoint and ordered to lie face-down on the floor. The robbers put packing tape over the employees’ mouths and taped at least one worker’s wrists, according to the report.

Chicago is seeing largest spike in robberies in over 20 years, analysis shows

The Walgreens at 933 N. State St. in the Gold Coast is pictured Monday.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

One robber calmly said: “We just came for the money.” The other was “much more hostile,” and used expletives while giving orders, the report said. They walked out of the store unnoticed with the suitcase after they ordered workers to open the safe and fill it with cash.

Police said both robbers were between the ages of 20 and 27, wore COVID-19 masks over their faces and black clothing, and brandished guns.

One was about 6-foot to 6-foot-4 tall, weighed about 230 pounds, and was wearing orange and white “colorful” gym shoes and blue surgical gloves. The other robber stood between 5-foot-10 and 6-foot, and weighed about 180 pounds.

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No arrests were made.

A representative with Walgreens said in a statement that the company was cooperating with police into the investigation, and that the safety of “patients, customers and team members” is their “priority.”

Contributing: Violet Miller

Charges pending after baby shot at South Side McDonald’s, police say

2023-12-01T11:05:08.477-06:00

A 9-month-old girl was shot late Tuesday night outside a McDonald’s in the Washington Park neighborhood.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Chicago police said Friday that charges were pending for a suspect in connection with the shooting of a 9-month-old girl at a McDonald’s in the Washington Park neighborhood.

No charges have been announced for the suspect, who is in custody, according to a Chicago police spokesperson.

The shooting happened just before 11 p.m. Tuesday when the mother of the 9-month-old girl went into a McDonald’s at 70 E. Garfield Blvd. and left the child in the car with her boyfriend, according to police.

When she came out and got into the driver’s seat, she peered into her rearview mirror and spotted blood coming from the baby’s nose but “thought nothing of it,” as the baby had been fighting a cold, a police report said.

The woman then got out of her car, opened the back door and saw the baby was bleeding “profusely,” so she jumped behind the wheel and drove to Comer Children’s Hospital, according to the report.

The child was listed in critical condition with gunshot wounds below her right ear and above her left eyebrow.

Earlier this week, police were speaking with a person of interest who they said had been released without being charged.

Community activist Andrew Holmes welcomed the arrest but was still searching for answers Friday.

“We’re still pushing forward because with the way things have been going in the state of Illinois, they may have a person of interest in custody and that person may walk out tonight or tomorrow. So we’re still going to push and ask for information,” Holmes said.

Holmes said he planned to reach out to the girl’s parents Friday.

Also Friday, Holmes called attention to the June 2022 shooting death of 5-month-old Cecilia Thomas, offering a $1,000 reward to anyone with information that leads to a conviction in that shooting.

“I talked with both the mother and father (of Cecilia), and they’re still suffering because nothing’s solved and nobody’s been arrested,” Holmes said.

Thomas was in her car seat with her dad driving in the 7700 block of South Shore Drive when someone in another car pulled up and fired shots, striking the girl in her head.

“For anybody to get shot, that’s disrespectful, but for a little baby that doesn’t know anything about guns? Come on, man,” Holmes said.

He’s continuing to seek information in the shootings of both children.

“We need to close these cases out because it’s heartbreaking,” Holmes said. “Their brains were not functionally strong yet, and here they have a bullet lodged in their head. We have one deceased and one fighting for her life.”

‘Person of interest’ released after baby shot in head at Chicago McDonald’s

2023-11-30T21:10:56.127-06:00

A 9-month-old girl was in critical condition following a shooting Tuesday night at a McDonald’s in Washington Park.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Police on Thursday released a person of interest after a baby was shot in the head in the parking lot of a Washington Park neighborhood McDonald’s.

The person of interest, who was being questioned, was no longer talking to police and was not charged with anything, according to Kellie Bartoli, a police spokesperson.

The shooting happened Tuesday just before 11 p.m. when the mother of the 9-month-old girl went into a McDonald’s at 70 E. Garfield Blvd. and left the child in the car with her boyfriend, according to police.

When she came out and got into the driver’s seat, she peered into her rear-view mirror and spotted blood coming from the baby’s nose but “thought nothing of it,” as the baby had been fighting a cold, a police report said.

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After the baby was admitted to intensive care, the hospital went into “lockdown,” the report said. It was not clear why the lockdown was put into effect.

The child was listed in critical condition with gunshot wounds below her right ear and above her left eyebrow.

No other injuries were reported, and police said the circumstances of the shooting remain under investigation by Area 1 detectives.

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Contributing: Mohammad Samra

Uninvited Thanksgiving guest shoots host in Woodlawn

2023-11-24T08:22:37.782-06:00

A 44-year-old man was in fair condition after an early-morning shooting in Woodlawn.

Sun-Times file

A man upset over not being invited to Thanksgiving dinner shot the host early Friday on the South Side.

It happened about 3:50 a.m. in the 6700 block of South Eberhart Avenue in the Woodlawn neighborhood when the shooter confronted a 44-year-old man over not being invited to the holiday dinner, Chicago police said.

After a “brief altercation,” he then fired at least five rounds at the 44-year-old, hitting him in the left thigh and left hand before running away, police said.

The 44-year-old was was taken by ambulance to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was listed in fair condition, police said.

Witnesses told police the shooter, who was not in custody, was the ex-boyfriend of the victim’s sister, police said.

On Thanksgiving Day, eleven men were shot and wounded, according to Chicago police.

Last Thanksgiving, 25-year-old Keyonis Langston was fatally shot on the city’s South Side and six other people including one woman were wounded during shootings, according to data tracked by the Sun-Times.

The data showed on Thanksgiving in 2021, no fatal shootings occurred but at least seven men and one was woman were wounded in gunfire.

Electrical fire at Calumet Fisheries leaves extensive damage: ‘We intend to rebuild’

2023-11-21T13:44:51.089-06:00

Days after being reopened following a closure to fix a rodent issue, Calumet Fisheries was damaged by fire Tuesday afternoon. The co-owner says he’ll rebuild and keep the 75-year-old eatery going.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Capping a rough three weeks for Calumet Fisheries, an “intense” fire broke out at the Southeast Side seafood institution on Tuesday, just four days after city health inspectors gave it the greenlight to reopen.

Shortly after 1 p.m., someone called 911, and crews burst inside the restaurant along the Calumet River, but “it was going up pretty fast,” said fire department spokesman Larry Langford. Worried that the roof, which was made of “old wood” would collapse, crews backed out as the fire quickly spread.

No injuries were reported, but damage to the one-story wooden building at 3259 E. 95th St. was “extensive,” Langford said, adding that it could be rebuilt.

Apparently undaunted by the difficult spell, a co-owner vowed to do just that.

“Oh yeah, we intend to rebuild, so we’ll see what our insurance company says,” co-owner Mark Kotlick told the Sun-Times.

On Tuesday evening, fire officials determined the cause of the fire was accidental and began due to an electrical issue.

The James Beard Award-winning eatery was ordered closed on Oct. 31 after the city health department found evidence of rodents, along with a dozen other minor violations, according to public health records. It then failed a re-inspection a week later when inspectors said evidence of pests was still present.

But the 75-year-old eatery passed an inspection Friday, according to Chicago Department of Public Health records.

Debris from a fire is seen inside Calumet Fisheries at 3259 E. 95th St. on the Southeast Side. Authorities say the fire was sparked by an electrical issue. No one was hurt.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Kotlick said the fire was “bad timing” because it’s the holidays, and business had been “booming” after the restaurant reopened over the weekend.

His cellphone began “blowing up” just after 1 p.m. Tuesday, he said, and the store manager called him immediately when the fire erupted. The blaze started in an area where the power service comes in, he said, leading him to believe it was an electrical fire.

For now, the staff will have to check their coolers, fire suppression system, exhaust system, the fryers, the display cases. “Hopefully those items are good,” Kotlick said.

Facing almost a month of lost revenue during the earlier closure, the restaurant almost didn’t reopen, Kotlick said over the weekend, but he cited his employees and “phenomenal” customers for keeping the business afloat.

“I’m ready to move on,” Kotlick said Saturday. “We just hope to continue to provide the Southeast Side with probably the best seafood in the U.S.”

The restaurant was named a winner in 2010 of the prestigious James Beard Awards nationwide competition, the Oscars of the food world.

Vice President Kamala Harris stopped by the shop during her visit to Chicago in January, and chef-author Anthony Bourdain visited in 2008 for his show “No Reservations.”

Firefighters battling the blaze at Calumet Fisheries.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Contributing: Mariah Rush

Grandfather slain leaving nephew’s birthday party in Logan Square

2023-11-20T19:47:27.148-06:00

Cesar A. Patino

Family photo

Cesar Patino and his wife had called it a night after celebrating his nephew’s 20th birthday in the Logan Square neighborhood Sunday night.

As Patino, 72, walked to his car about 10 p.m., someone in a passing sport-utility vehicle opened fire, shooting him in the chest, police said. His wife, Rosa Gordillo, 76, was grabbing their jackets from the party at the time, and soon found him on the ground, bleeding. Patino died less than an hour later.

“He was four meters from his car when he was shot,’’ his son, Edison Patino, told the Sun-Times. “We don’t know exactly what happened.”

Relatives still at the celebration rushed to his wife’s side and tried to revive Cesar Patino after the attack, in the 3900 block of West Fullerton Avenue.

“They saw him struggling,” Edison Patino said.

The elder Patino, who was retired from a career in construction, grew up in Ecuador but had lived in Chicago for the last 40 years, his son said.

“It’s terrible,” he said. “I cannot even understand. He was just going to his car. Someone crazy shot him.”

Cesar Patino, of the 3300 block of West Wilson Avenue in the Albany Park neighborhood, was pronounced dead at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center at 10:44 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

He had at least 10 grandchildren and was a “very kind” husband, father and grandfather, his son said.

“All of us are very sad,” Edison Patino said. “All of us loved him. If anybody ever needed a favor he was always there for us.”

“He’s going to be missed a lot,” he added. “I don’t know why people do this, he was a happy person.”

No arrests have been made.