Chicago Sun-Times: All posts by Mary Norkol

Grandfather tried to warn grandson before they were killed in Chicago Lawn shooting

2023-12-13T15:02:16.896-06:00

The block where a 14-year-old boy and his 65-year-old grandfather were shot and killed Tuesday was quiet a day after the slayings, and neighbors were unwilling to talk about the shooting.

Mary Norkol/Sun-Times

A 65-year-old man tried to warn his 14-year-old grandson to run for shelter, but they were both gunned down in a hail of gunfire coming from a silver Kia Soul on the Southwest Side Tuesday, police and neighbors said.

A day after the slayings, the 3500 block of South 61st Place seemed hushed, and many were not willing to say much about the shooting that left Juan and Mario Medina dead outside the family home.

Police said Juan Medina, 14, went outside to meet his girlfriend and two other friends around 4:30 p.m.

Suddenly, an eastbound Kia Soul pulled up and stopped in front of the residence, causing his grandfather, who stood on the front porch, to begin “trying to get him back into the house,” according to a police report.

Bullets blasted from the car’s driver’s side hit the boy in the back of the head as he sprinted through a gangway and pierced his grandfather’s back and abdomen as the 65-year-old spun around to try and make it to safety.

Police found 19 shell casings on the scene after the Kia Soul sped away west, and then south on Central Park Avenue.

Meanwhile, no one answered at the victims’ home when a Chicago Sun-Times reporter knocked late Wednesday morning.

Colored lights and festive holiday decorations adorned many homes lining the residential street.

One neighbor said the Medinas lived across the street from him, where he’s lived for more than 20 years.

The neighbor, who didn’t give his name, wasn’t home at the time of the shooting but said he was “good friends” with the Medinas and had spoken to them since the shooting.

When asked how Juan Medina’s mother was doing, he shook his head and said: “Not very good.”

One neighbor said she hadn’t heard about the shooting and didn’t know the family, and a couple who approached the family house didn’t answer, shook their heads and left in a car when a reporter asked for their comments.

So far this year, at least 15 people have been killed in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood, according to data kept by the Sun-Times.

No one is in custody and detectives are investigating.

Robert Crimo Jr., father of Highland Park massacre suspect, released from jail early for good behavior

2023-12-13T14:25:52.987-06:00

Robert Crimo Jr. was released from the Lake County Jail on Wednesday after serving about half of his 60-day sentence for misdemeanor reckless conduct.

Nam Y. Huh/AP file

The Highland Park massacre suspect’s father, Robert Crimo Jr., was released from custody Wednesday for good behavior after serving half of the sentence he’d been given last month for helping his son get a firearm owner’s identification card when he was underage.

Crimo had been sentenced to 60 days in jail after pleading guilty Nov. 6 to misdemeanor counts of reckless conduct. The charge allows the detainee to be released after serving only half the sentence if they exhibit good behavior while in custody.

Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart had said the guilty plea will serve as a “beacon” for prosecutors across the country to hold parents accountable for the actions of their children.

“We’ve laid down a marker to other prosecutors, to other police in this country, to other parents, that they must be held accountable,” said Rinehart, who brought the charges last December.

Rinehart said at the time the plea brings “some closure” to the father’s role in the shooting.

Crimo was charged with felony reckless conduct for signing the state gun ownership card application for his son in 2019 when his son was too young to do so himself. Prosecutors said Crimo signed it despite knowing his son had threatened an unrelated mass shooting a few years before allegedly opening fire from a rooftop in Highland Park on July 4, 2022, killing seven people and wounding 48 others, prosecutors said.

The shooting suspect was 19 when he received the Firearm Owner’s Identification card, two years short of the age at which he could have received it without a parent or guardian’s signature.

The last-minute plea deal spared Crimo from a potential three-year sentence had he been found guilty of felony reckless conduct charges.

He reported to jail on Nov. 15 wearing a T-shirt reading, “I’m a political pawn.” The back of the shirt read “Laws, facts, reality.”

The shirt was inside out by the time Crimo appeared in court that day, but the judge still reprimanded him for breaking court rules and threatened him with contempt of court if he did so again.

“Did you read the rules?” Judge George Strickland asked him.

Crimo admitted he had not.

Robert E. Crimo Jr., arrives at the Lake County Courthouse on Nov. 15.

Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press

His son, Robert Crimo III, is accused of killing seven people and injuring dozens more at the Highland Park Independence Day parade on July 4, 2022.

On Monday, Crimo III dismissed his assistant public defenders and told the judge he plans to represent himself at trial in February.

Judge Victoria Rossetti questioned Crimo III’s request for several minutes, asking if he understood the consequences of the charges and that he had no courtroom experience.

“Knowing these potential penalties, do you still want to proceed without an attorney?” the judge asked.

Crimo III replied with a curt “Yes.”

Prosecutors now have a little over two months to prepare for a complicated trial that Rossetti said could last four to six weeks, with jury selection that could take “seven to 10 days, if not more.”

It’s unclear why Crimo III chose to waive his right to legal representation.

Crimo III, 23, has pleaded not guilty to 117 felony counts of allegedly firing an assault rifle at paradegoers from a rooftop at Central Avenue and Second Street in north suburban Highland Park. He will receive a life sentence if convicted of just two of the 21 murder counts.

Activists, residents call on Mayor Brandon Johnson to oust CHA leadership

2023-12-12T13:41:55.175-06:00

Public housing residents and activists rallied outside the CHA’s downtown office Tuesday and urged Mayor Brandon Johnson to replace the CHA’s board and CEO.

Mary Norkol/Sun-Times

Activists and Chicago Housing Authority residents are pushing for the replacement of the CHA leadership, saying more than 200,000 people sit on the waiting list for public housing.

About 30 protesters gathered at CHA’s office downtown Tuesday to call on Mayor Brandon Johnson to back their demands and replace the housing authority’s board and CEO Tracey Scott. A group of activists penned a letter to Johnson last week, saying current leadership “lacks vision and desire” to help more families.

“Enough is enough,” said Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th), who also serves as Johnson’s chair on the City Council’s Committee on Housing and Real Estate. “We need changes of leadership. We need to honor the commitments the city made years ago.”

Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez of the 25th Ward, who leads the CIty Council’s housing committee, said the mayor is committed to building affordable housing.

Mary Norkol/Sun-Times

Sigcho-Lopez said Johnson is committed to alleviating housing issues and building affordable housing, and he wants to hear from residents. Johnson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Speakers at the rally pointed to broken promises by city officials to build more public housing and gentrification driving up prices as reasons for homelessness in the city, where more than 70,000 people — including about 20,000 Chicago Public Schools students — are homeless, according to Sigcho-Lopez.

The CHA is using 84% of its available housing vouchers compared with the national average of 95% for other housing authorities, according to Roderick Wilson, executive director of the Lugenia Burns Hope Center, a Bronzeville-based civic engagement organization.

That figure isn’t accurate, according to CHA spokesman Matthew Aguilar. The Department of Housing and Urban Development designates some housing authorities, called “Move-to-Work” agencies, to use funds in different ways, so the department’s utilization rates aren’t always accurate. Aguilar said CHA’s voucher utilization is at 91%.

The city’s handling of the housing crisis has faced scrutiny from residents and agencies alike. Last month, federal investigators from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found the city wrongly limited affordable housing by allowing alderpersons to oppose and reject developments in their wards.

Obstacles to affordable housing often exacerbate inequalities in a city that’s long struggled with segregation and wage gaps by neighborhood and race.

“This is an agency that’s supposed to be leveling the field. They’re contributing to inequality,” Wilson said, referencing a University of Chicago report that concluded demolishing public housing facilities increased inequality. The Census tracts hit hardest by closed and destroyed public housing were on the South and West sides.

CHA resident Etta Davis speaks at Tuesday’s rally calling for new Chicago Housing Authority leadership.

Mary Norkol/Sun-Times

“People are out here working for $15 an hour,” said Etta Davis, who lives at the Dearborn Homes, a CHA development in Douglas. “Well, who the hell is it affordable for?”

The median rent in Chicago is $2,389, according to a report released in October by Rent, a digital company that provides marketing services in the real estate industry.

Roderick Wilson, executive director at Lugenia Burns Hope Center, talks about the need for affordable housing in Chicago.

Mary Norkol/Sun-Times

Johnson’s election in April was seen as a beacon of hope for those looking for housing equality and affordability. He campaigned on a platform of bringing more affordable housing to the city and appointed Sigcho-Lopez to lead the housing committee as part of his “Unity Plan.”

“Brandon, you need to help us,” CHA resident Laura Donaldson said at the rally. “I’m tired of our people dying because we don’t have housing.”

With temperatures in the mid-30s Tuesday and expected to drop further as the city heads into winter, Sigcho-Lopez added: “We’re leaving people in the cold in viaducts and across the city.”

Man fatally shot near homeless encampment subject of political battle in West Loop

2023-12-07T18:28:46.047-06:00

A man was found shot and wounded early Thursday near the intersection of North Clinton Street and West Washington Boulevard in the West Loop. He later died. Ald. Bill Conway says the shooting was the result of a “drug deal gone bad.”

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

Ald. Bill Conway (34th) and some of his West Loop constituents said they are alarmed but not surprised that a man was shot and killed in what Conway called a “magnet” area for violent crime and drugs near a homeless encampment early Thursday.

The 59-year-old man was found unresponsive with a gunshot wound to the chest in the 500 block of West Lake Street. Police say he was shot a quarter of a mile away in the 100 block of North Clinton Street about 1 a.m.

He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he died, police said. Conway said initial information indicated the shooting resulted from a “drug deal gone bad.”

Police didn’t immediately confirm the circumstances behind the shooting.

The area where the man was shot is next to a homeless encampment under a viaduct that has been the subject of an ongoing dispute between Conway and Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office.

The area gets heavy foot traffic from commuters, and neighbors said they’ve witnessed daytime drug-dealing and drug use.

Brendan Nyhan, 34, who lives across the street from the area where the shooting occurred, said he and his fiancée, Alexis Aria, 29, were awakened by gunfire and witnessed the aftermath of the shooting from their window.

“It’s scary,” Nyhan said. “I’ve seen multiple other dead bodies from overdoses, not just related to violence. Constantly, people are loaded onto ambulances here. I see drug deals every day, I see drug use out in the open every day.”

During a Thursday afternoon news conference at Lake and Clinton streets, Conway said he asked the mayor to address safety concerns in the area in October, but he was only offered help in exchange for votes on two of the mayor’s proposals before the City Council.

Conway said previous plans to remove the encampment were halted after Conway didn’t vote the way the mayor wanted.

“I walk through these viaducts every day with my 4-year-old daughter, and I see overt drug-dealing in these tents, and there was a plan in place to remove them,” he said.

Conway’s colleague Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) said “we had two wards coordinating this effort, and yet in the blink of an eye, the mayor’s office decided to cancel this, I believe, as political retribution for my colleague. It’s completely and totally unacceptable.”

“I walk through these viaducts every day with my 4-year-old daughter, and I see overt drug-dealing in these tents, and there was a plan in place to remove them,” Ald. Bill Conway said. Conway, at right, was joined by Ald. Brendan Reilly at a Thursday news conference in the West Loop.

Isabel Funk/Sun-Times

In mid-November, about 1,500 residents signed a petition submitted to the mayor’s office asking for help.

Louise Perrin, 67, was one of those who signed the petition. She has lived in the area for 10 years and said she moved there, in part, because of its safety.

“In such a short period of time, it has turned from an area where you felt safe walking around anytime of the day or night, to now, personally, even in broad daylight I will not walk through the viaducts,” Perrin said.

Michael Valdez, who works in the nearby Ogilvie Transportation Center, at 500 W. Madison St., said the disruptions have been worse recently than at any other time in the 11 years he’s worked there.

“I’ve seen [the area] up and coming,” Valdez told the Sun-Times. “The stuff that’s been happening, it’s never been like this.”

Dave Gelfand, who’s been a property manager of a nearby building for 15 years, said that in the last year and a half, he’s noticed more violence and crime.

“There’s been homeless in this area for a long, long time,” he said. “It’s been a sad situation, but it’s never been the point of where people are walking around, literally, fearing for their lives.”

Maracella Hernandez, who also works in Ogilvie, said employees look out for each other and make sure people are safe on their commute home.

“We have security, but from what we understand, they can only do so much,” Hernandez said.

Conway said the situation was bound to turn deadly if it’s not properly addressed.

“This tragic, fatal shooting was predictable, inevitable and likely avoidable based on the trajectory of crime and recent events we’ve seen in this area,” Conway said.

Area 3 detectives are investigating the homicide. No arrests have been made.

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

Former State Senate President James ‘Pate’ Philip dead at 93

2023-11-22T10:52:30.246-06:00

Former Illinois Senate President James “Pate” Philip, a Republican from northwest suburban Wood Dale, shown in April 2002 at the state Capitol, has died.

Associated Press

James “Pate” Philip, a once powerful Illinois Republican known for his ability to deliver votes as well as blunt remarks, died Tuesday at his home in Wood Dale. He was 93.

Mr. Philip was the longest-tenured Republican to serve as Illinois Senate president, in a career that began in 1966 in the Illinois House of Representatives. He also served more than 30 years as chairman of the DuPage County Republican Party — creating a suburban GOP machine that Republican presidents would count on to win.

Born May 26, 1930, in suburban Elmhurst, Mr. Philip worked as a salesman for Pepperidge Farm for nearly four decades. He was married to Nancy Philip and had four children. He died with his wife of 46 years by his side.

National Republicans courted Philip, well aware of his ability to deliver the vote.

“Former Presidents Reagan and Ford, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, and New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean have paid homage to Philip on his home turf,” Sun-Times political columnist Steve Neal wrote in 1990. Neal wrote that Mr. Philip created “the most effective political unit in the state,” as Republican boss of DuPage County.

But Neal also noted that “few persons are neutral about Philip.”

“The late Mayor Harold Washington, with whom Philip clashed politically, once said that Philip was an example of ‘the Peter principle gone wild.’ Former Mayor Jane Byrne denounced him as ‘a Chicago hater’ and former Sun-Times columnist Mike Royko referred to him as a “polyester jerk,’ though Philip now favors wool suits,” Neal wrote.

Mr. Philip didn’t mince words when fighting for his legislative gains, and he was known for sometimes controversial comments. One of his most notable accomplishments, instituting reforms that minimized the power of corrupt school boards, was marked by his claim that disseminating more money to Chicago’s public schools would be “pouring money down a rat-hole.”

James “Pate” Philip, voting on Election Day.

Sun-Times file photo

Mr. Philip’s harsh tongue got him into trouble more than once. In the 1990s, he made remarks that resulted in state and city officials — and unions — to call for his resignation.

“I want people to understand when they look at his style, he came from a different era,” said former state Sen. Kirk Dillard, the chair of the Regional Transportation Authority Board of Directors and former chairman of the DuPage County Republican Party. “He had impeccable integrity. He was very patriotic as an ex-U.S. Marine. And most importantly, his word was his bond, whether you were a political ally or an opponent.”

James “Pate” Philip, shown in his office during his time as Republican minority leader of the Illinois Senate.

Sun-Times file photo

Jim Durkin, former Illinois House Republican leader, was first sworn into office by Mr. Philip in 1995 in his Woodridge office. Durkin described him as larger-than-life, a “caricature of himself,” and someone who never dropped names.

“I have to say this. He was a very intimidating man. You know, this big German truck driver. He was the blue-collar conservative Republican,” Durkin said. “He was such a strong supporter of Republican principles and was able to figure out ways to get things done. And he ran his chamber when he was president like a master.”

Patty Schuh, a veteran spokeswoman who worked for Mr. Philip from 1995 to 2003, said the former Senate president was most proud of delivering responsible state budgets “on time, maybe even a little early,” in addition to his work on suburban tax caps and education funding.

Schuh said he treated everyone in the Capitol equally, from the janitors to fellow senators. He was humble, she said, often describing meetings with legislative leaders and Gov. Jim Thompson as a gathering of “four lawyers and a bread salesman.”

“He was very proud of his work with Pepperidge Farm. It made him humble. He was well-grounded. He stayed connected with people that hunted and fished, and he just lived his philosophy,” Schuh said.

That life philosophy included a well-rounded life surrounded by family after he stepped out of the political spotlight, she said.

Mr. Philip is survived by his wife, stepsons Randy and Kevin, daughter Cindi and son Jase, as well as nine grandchildren and two step-grandsons.

“Pate truly had what we all strive for: a successful family life, a successful professional life, a successful public service career, including his time in the military,” Schuh said. “He truly had it all, and he worked hard to get it.”

The son of German parents, Mr. Philip served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War from 1951 to 1953. He put his patriotism on display during his years in the Illinois Senate, bringing in the Marine Corps flag for every inaugural ceremony he led.

Illinois State Sen. James “Pate” Philip (left) and Gov. James Thompson, at Fenton High School in Bensenville, look through a wheelbarrow of petitions signed by people who opposed an expansion of O’Hare Airport.

Sun-Times file photo

He described his gratitude for his mother leaving Germany as a child, just before World War II, in an oral history for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.

“We are so lucky to be Americans, the greatest country in the history of the world. Is it perfect? No. But, if you can’t make it in America, you can’t make it,” Mr. Philip said. “I don’t care what your color is, what your religion, you are so lucky to be an American.”

James “Pate” Philip, shown in his office when he was Illinois Senate minority leader.

Sun-Times file photo

From Tinder to tattoo artist and Kazakhstan to Chicago

2023-11-17T13:15:00-06:00

Askhat Kobekpaev and Kate Herrington married in 2017 after meeting on Tinder. She inspired him to become a tattoo artist.

Provided

Without Tinder, maybe Ashkat Kobekpaev still would be working office jobs in Kazakhstan. Instead, he’s a tattoo artist in Chicago whose clientele has included singer Sam Smith.

Kobekpaev downloaded the dating app after hearing about it on the Showtime TV series “Shameless,” set on the South Side, while living in his native Kazakhstan in 2016.

Kate Herrington was his first match. She’d soon become his wife and the woman who inspired him to pursue a career in tattooing.

She was a student at the University of Missouri studying abroad in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, when she also downloaded the app, to meet new people and practice her Russian language skills. By the time she matched with Kobekpaev, she’d met a few people who became friends, and that’s what she expected with him, she says. But they kept seeing each other, and romance developed.

“He was just so cute,” Herrington says. “He looked like a K-pop star.”

Herrington’s Russian was “really bad,” she says, and Kobekpaev didn’t speak any English. With the help of online translation, though, they stumbled through the awkward moments.

The language barrier didn’t keep them from connecting through art and music, particularly the ukulele. Kobekpaev introduced Herrington to Russian music, and they spent hours and hours together.

They got married just four months after meeting in March 2017. Herrington extended her stay in Kazakhstan through the rest of her senior year, then found a job after graduating.

Throughout their time in Kazakhstan, Kobekpaev worked various jobs but craved a larger art scene than Almaty offered. He and Herrington had discussed his artistic abilities, and she suggested he give tattooing a shot.

“She found my old drawings,” he says, noting that he was more artistic when he was younger. “She said, ‘Wow, these are your drawings? You should draw more often.’ ”

Herrington says of her husband’s homeland: “Tattoos are not very popular, but he always liked them. So now I was, like, ‘Now, you have the chance. You don’t have to work an office job.’ ”

Herrington worked to support them financially while he perfected his craft. She also let him use her as a practice canvas in the early days. She got his first three tattoos.

A tattoo of the pinup model Betty Paige on Kate Herrington was done by her husband Askhat Kobekpaev. She convinced him to try tattooing as a career early in their relationship.

Provided

This tattoo on Kate Herrington’s thigh was done by her husband, Askhat Kobekpaev. The two met on Tinder in 2016, and she convinced him to try tattooing as a career.

Provided

“He always seemed happiest when he was doing something creative,” Herrington says.

Kobekpaev worked as a tattoo artist in Kazakhstan for a few years before the couple moved to the United States.

In 2021, they moved to Herrington’s hometown in Missouri, and Kobekpaev began tattooing at a shop nearby.

“I was able to finally do something interesting,” he says. “I can put my creativity in it. People love it. I can see how happy people are.”

After a trip to Chicago in 2021, they moved to Noble Square, and Kobekpaev got a job at Metamorph Tattoo Studios in Wicker Park. Then, he went to Lucky Kat Tat in West Town, where he now works.

Singer Sam Smith’s tattoo done by Askhat Kobekpaev in August.

Provided

Tattoo artist Askhat Kobekpaev and singer Sam Smith.

Provided

In August, in a sign of how far Kobekpaev has come as an artist, he got a direct message on Instagram from singer Sam Smith, asking for a tattoo while on tour in Chicago. The singer now has a tattoo of an angel holding a Big Mac and a McDonald’s cup thanks to Kobekpaev.

“I started crying because this was just something unbelievable for me,” Kobekpaev says.

He looks back on his life in Kazakhstan and is filled with gratitude.

“What was the chances for us to meet?” he says to Herrington. “I never would have been a tattoo artist. I would have ended up in a factory. I’m just really grateful.”

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A Sun-Times series on the stories behind body art.

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Rep. Casten, others evacuated from DNC office during Gaza cease-fire protest

2023-11-15T23:23:48.213-06:00

U.S. Capitol Police stand outside the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee on Wednesday. About 150 people were “illegally and violently protesting” near the building, police said. Six police officers were treated for minor injuries. One protester was arrested.

Associated Press

U.S. Rep. Sean Casten was among members of Congress evacuated Wednesday from the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington during a protest calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.

Protesters blocked entrances and exits from the building, according to a post on X from Casten, and Capitol police escorted members of Congress to safety.

“I am grateful for the USCP’s professionalism and that all were safely evacuated,” Casten said of the Capitol police. “I’m also keenly aware that it could have been much worse. Americans have a right to assemble and protest.”

I was just evacuated from the @dccc office after the building was surrounded by protestors who had blocked all modes of ingress and egress. Grateful to Capitol Police for getting all members and staff out safely. To the protestors: PLEASE don’t do something irresponsible /1
— Sean Casten (@SeanCasten) November 16, 2023

Casten said some Capitol police officers lived through the Jan. 6, 2021, violent insurrection by supporters of former President Donald Trump, and urged protesters to stay peaceful and avoid putting anyone in harm’s way.

The protest was organized by a coalition of groups, including If Not Now and Jewish Voice for Peace Action, that have spearheaded other demonstrations in Washington and elsewhere.

At Wednesday’s protest, nearly 150 protesters “illegally and violently” rallied in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, police said.

Scores of Democratic representatives and candidates, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, were inside the building for a campaign reception when it was interrupted by the demonstrators outside.

Six officers were treated for minor injuries and one protester was arrested for assaulting an officer, Capitol Police said. Metropolitan Police Department officers also responded.

The same groups were involved in a protest Monday in which demonstrators called for a ceasefire and blocked escalators to the Israeli consulate above the Ogilvie Transportation Center in Chicago.

Calls for a ceasefire and criticism of Israeli forces have intensified, weeks after the Israel-Hamas war started Oct. 7.

Contributing: Associated Press

2 who died in fiery South DuSable Lake Shore Drive crash identified

2023-11-01T14:30:23.434-05:00

Jalean Ewing-Gibbs, 24, was killed in a car crash Oct. 30 on South DuSable Lake Shore Drive, according to his family.

Provided

Two friends were killed and four others injured after a fiery two-car crash Monday night on DuSable Lake Shore Drive in the Douglas neighborhood, police said.

A 49-year-old man driving a Chevrolet Bolt southbound was changing lanes about 8:45 p.m. Monday in the 3000 block of South DuSable Lake Shore Drive when he collided with a Nissan Altima, causing the Nissan to ram into a tree and catch fire in the median of the road, according to Chicago police.

The man driving the Nissan, Jalean Ewing-Gibbs, 24, and Jaida Rosado Colon, 24, who was a front-seat passenger, were taken to University of Chicago Medical Center, where they were pronounced dead, police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.

Autopsies for Ewing-Gibbs, of the 1700 block North Meade Avenue, and Colon, of the 1400 block of North Fairfield Avenue, determined they both died of multiple injuries during the accident, the office said.

Two 21-year-old women who were passengers in the Nissan were taken in critical condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, police said.

The Chevrolet also veered off the road and crashed into a median. The driver declined medical attention and was arrested at the scene, according to a police report.

Two passengers of the Chevrolet, a 39-year-old woman and a man, 42, were taken to Stroger Hospital in fair condition, police said.

Jalean Ewing-Gibbs

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Suburban Palestinian family threatened to remove ‘Free Palestine’ sign from lawn

2023-10-26T17:04:13.373-05:00

A sign stands in the yard of Lila Gaber, who says she was targeted by a hate crime when a letter was sent to her home saying “Remove the sign from the lawn or burn.”

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A Palestinian family in southwest suburban Hickory Hills is reeling after receiving a letter threatening to “burn” them in what police are investigating as a hate crime.

Lila Gaber, a Muslim Palestinian American, put a sign in her yard that reads “Free Palestine” after the conflict escalated between Israeli and Hamas forces earlier this month, leading to thousands of civilian deaths and a heightened Israeli occupation of Gaza.

When she got the mail Tuesday afternoon, she opened a letter addressed to “resident” and read: “THIS IS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NOT PALESTINE!!!!!!! REMOVE THE SIGN FROM THE LAWN OR B U R N.”

A photo of a letter sent to Lila Gaber threatening that she will “burn” if she doesn’t remove a “Free Palestine” sign in her yard.

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“I had to reread it twice because at first, I’m like, ‘Is this a prank?’” she said. “I froze for a minute; I took a deep breath. I needed to get it together. I started to shake; I got a little nervous.

Gaber, 34, reported the incident to Hickory Hills police, who are investigating it as a hate crime. There were no suspects as of Thursday afternoon, police said.

Gaber also reported the letter to the U.S. Postal Service, and she was told not to open any other suspicious mail, but bring it to the post office to be DNA tested, she said. The USPS didn’t immediately confirm the report.

Gaber, whose parents are from the city of Ramallah near the West Bank, said she had displayed the sign multiple times without issue throughout the past several years.

“I feel in my heart that Palestine needs to be free, and I have every right to speak up and say what I mean on behalf of my people over there,” Gaber said.

But since Oct. 7, when militant group Hamas launched a terror attack kidnapping hostages and the Israeli military responded with several airstrikes in Gaza, it’s been harder to carry on without fear of being targeted.

Lila Gaber (center) is shown with her family. The family was the subject of a possible hate crime in Hickory Hills when a letter was sent to their home threatening they would “burn” if they didn’t remove a sign showing support for Palestine.

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“We’re literally looking over our shoulders now,” said Gaber, who is Muslim and wears a hijab. “I used to go walk in the mornings, 3 miles every morning. I’m kind of scared now to go walk. ... I’m scared they’re going to see that I’m with a scarf.”

Hate crimes against Muslims, Arabs and Jews have risen drastically as tensions worsen in the Middle East. The Council on American-Islamic Relations reported more than 770 hate crimes nationwide targeting Muslims since Oct. 7, and the Anti-Defamation League said reports of antisemitic instances have risen 400% nationwide in the same time span.

For Gaber, the letter instilled fear in not only herself but her three sons. She recalled Wadea Al-Fayoume, a 6-year-old Muslim Palestinian American boy who was stabbed to death in Plainfield Township, allegedly by his landlord, who prosecutors said was emboldened by listening to conservative talk radio. The letter and other hate crimes make her wonder if she’s safe at home, she said.

She said one son “freaked out” when someone came to the door to deliver an Amazon package, but she doesn’t want to be scared into removing the sign.

“I don’t want him to freak out at any little thing,” she said. “Is this really coming to my doorstep now? It makes me think, it’s not going to frighten me and take down the sign.”