The owner of a small wholesale clothing store confronted two armed attackers who were trying to rob his son and he was shot in the neck Friday afternoon in the quiet Northwest Side neighborhood of Mayfair Park.
About 2:50 p.m., two attackers with handguns drawn and wearing dark clothing entered the store -- Wholesale Concept Inc. -- at 4467 W. Lawrence Ave. and demanded money of the owner’s son working behind a counter, according to Albany Park District Lt. William Woitowich, who was citing preliminary information.
When the storekeeper -- a man in his 50s who is the cashier’s father -- came over from another part of the store and confronted the two attackers, they shot him once in the neck, Woitowich said.
The vicitm is in Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center and is expected to survive, according to the lieutenant who declined to identify him.
Initially the victim was conscious and able to talk but is now in "critical" condition, Police News Affairs Officer JoAnn Taylor said at 5:30 p.m.
The two attackers ran off after the shooting and the lieutenant said he didn’t believe they stole anything. Detectives will be conducting a more intensive investigation including talking to the son, a man in his 20s, who was the only other person inside the store at the time of the attack.
The establishment sells clothing such as underwear, t-shirts and socks.
Woitowich could not confirm whether the employee who called 911 was the victim's son, as other reports have indicated.
The store has apparently not had any recently problems with robberies and the neighborhood where the incident happened is relatively quiet, according to the lieutenant who has worked in the Albany Park District for about 5 or 6 years.
“It’s one of the quietest parts in the [Albany Park] District,’’ Woitowich said. No one else was injured in the incident, Taylor said. The assailants remain at large. Grand Central Area detectives are investigating.
•THE NEW YEAR GOT OFF to an ugly start in Joliet with a beating police say appears to be racially motivated.
Officers were called at 5:04 a.m. to a fight outside the Marathon gas station at 324 S. Larkin Ave. -- at the corner of Larkin and McDonough Street.
Police Deputy Chief Patrick Kerr said two white men were using a garbage can from the parking lot to beat a 43-year-old black man.
The suspects are Lucas M. Bailey and Jerry Bryant, both 26.
Witnesses reported the pair yelled racial epithets at their victim and stated, "This is for Obama," likely referring to the ethnic heritage of the president-elect.
A police officer arrived and ordered the suspects to stop, but Bryant was apparently agitated enough to launch an equal-opportunity attack on the white officer.
"He swung and struck the officer with the garbage can," Kerr said.
The officer used pepper spray to subdue Bryant. Bailey attempted to flee while Bryant was being handcuffed, but was also taken into custody.
The victim was taken to Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet where he is listed in stable condition with "lacerations and bruises" to his head.
"The victim was intoxicated and because of his injuries we have not yet been able to conduct a detailed interview," Kerr said.
The police officer involved in the confrontation did not require treatment for his injuries.
Bryant, of North Briggs St., and Bailey, of Roberts Road in Wilmington, were booked into the county jail on charges of aggravated battery, mob action, committing a hate crime and resisting a police officer. Bryant was also charged with aggravated battery to a police officer.
Records indicate Bryant has previously been arrested on hate crime charges.
In February 2003, he was one of two people arrested by Will County Sheriff's police after a fight started outside a house owned by a black family in the Ridgewood area.
Witnesses reported Bryant and his younger brother, yelled "racial slurs and derogatory comments" at the adults and juveniles inside before being charged with committing a hate crime and battery.
Bryant is also on parole for a five-year sentence of theft for shoplifting from a New Lenox store in December 2006. In 2005, he was sentenced to 39 months in prison after shoplifting numerous items from the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Morris.
He has also previously served time for robbery, aggravated battery and criminal damage to property.
•TWO MEN forced their way into a south suburban home and robbed the homeowner at gunpoint of $1,000 and a cell phone, police said.
The men knocked on the front door of the home on Strieff Lane in Glenwood shortly after 4 p.m. and asked to use the phone, police said. The homeowner refused and tried to shut the door, but the men were able to push their way into the home.
One man brandished a handgun while the other ordered the homeowner to an upstairs bedroom, police said. One man stole the cash and phone while the other kept the gun trained on the homeowner, police said.
The men then ordered the homeowner to the floor and fled in an unknown direction, police said. After several minutes, the homeowner called police.
Glenwood police said they are investigating the incident but no one is in custody.
•TWO PEOPLE WERE SHOT one fatally, early New Year's Day during an argument on the Near West Side.
The shooting happened about 2:15 a.m. at West Lake and North Green streets, Fire Media Affairs spokesman Joseph Roccasalva said.
David Garrett, 47, of West. Potomac Ave. was dead at the scene, saidthe Cook County Medical Examiner. He was found in the street with a gunshot wound to his head.
Another person, a 29-year-old man, was taken to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County in serious to critical condition, according to Roccasalva.
The man identified as Garrett was involved in a "verbal altercation" with an unknown suspect when the person shot him and ran off, according to police. The reason for the dispute is not known.
The victim’s mother, Judy Caldwell pleaded with the shooter to turn himself in. “You are just a coward, a coward. That was my only son.”
Harrison Area detectives are investigating.
•BERNARD McHHERRON, 29, was shot to death at his home on East 150th St. said the Cook County Medical Examiner. McHerron was pronounced dead as Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn at 1:35 a.m.
Harvey police declined comment.
•THE EXCALIBUR CLUB was the scene of a brawl early New Year’s Day which left five hospitalized in the River North neighborhood on the Near North Side.
An EMS Plan 1 response, which sends five ambulances to the scene, was called to the club, located at 632 N. Dearborn St., at 2:25 a.m., Fire Media Affairs spokesman Joseph Roccasalva said.
The victims are all in “good” condition in Northwestern Memorial Hospital . The investigation continues.
•AT LEAST FOUR FAMILY MEMBERS were stabbed -- two seriously wounded -- during a family fight early New Year’s Day in the South Shore neighborhood.
About 2:30 a.m., four people were stabbed near East 78th Street and South Essex Avenue, Fire Media Affairs spokesman Joseph Roccasalva said. Police said the incident occurred outside a home and that the incident was being investigated as a “family fight.’’
Four were initially taken in serious-to-critical condition to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County and Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Roccasalva said. Two were immediately treated and released.
News Affairs Officer David Banks said one person is in custody for the stabbings. Calumet Area detectives are investigating.
•ALDO RUIZ WAS STABBED TO DEATH New Year’s Eve in a possibly gang-related fight in a Southwest Side alley.
Ruiz, 24, of South Western Ave., was found stabbed in the chest at the intersection of South California Avenue and West 61st St. He was pronounced dead at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn at 3 p.m., the Cook County Medical Examiner said.
About noon Wednesday, he left his vehicle in an alley in the 2800 block of West 60th Street when he was approached by two unknown males, police News Affairs Officer Amina Greer said.
An argument and struggle ensued and the man was stabbed in the chest.
After he was stabbed, he got back to his car and attempted to drive away, but crashed into a parked car near South California Avenue and West 61st St where he was found, Greer said. He was taken to Christ Medical Center where he was pronounced dead a few hours later.
No suspects are in custody, which appears to be gang-related, Greer said.
An autopsy is scheduled
THE DEATH OF RALPH BRIDGES, shot outside a liquor store near south suburban Joliet, is under investigation.
Bridges, 56, had been a customer at Ranch Liquors, 1913 S. Chicago St. in unincorporated Joliet Twp., Will County Sheriff's spokesman Pat Barry said.
"Around 10 p.m., he walks (back) inside and says, 'I've just been shot,' before he collapses," Barry said.
The two clerks called 911 and Bridges was taken to Silver Cross Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 10:47 p.m.
Barry said the employees reported hearing a bang "like someone was stomping their feet against the building" shortly before Bridges returned to the liquor store.
"They also heard a car leaving the parking lot at a high rate of speed, but they did not see the vehicle," he said. There were no other customers in the liquor store .
Will County Coroner Patrick K. O'Neil said an autopsy confirms Bridges was killed by a single gunshot wound.
Barry said Bridges lived on Akin Ave. in Joliet. Detectives are tracing his steps before the shooting.
"It should be noted the victim is a registered sex offender with an extensive criminal history," Barry said.
Records show Bridges was arrested on weapons charges by Joliet police in 1979 and sheriff's police in 1980.
In December 1987, he attempted to escape a security guard at Hillcrest Shopping Center in Crest Hill "by opening the doors and getting into several passing cars" as he ran through the parking lot. Bridges was arrested after locking himself in the bathroom of a nearby fast-food restaurant.
He allegedly "jumped into a stranger's car" and led Crest Hill police on a chase during a similar theft the following November.
In 1991, Bridges was sentenced to three years in prison for two other shoplifting crimes.
Released early, he was arrested on charges of retail theft and burglary in 1993. The allegations included trying to steal a ham from a market in the 1600 block of West Jefferson Street. Police said Bridges ran into the nearby neighborhood, trying to escape, but was caught by a store employee and an off-duty officer. He was also charged with battery and aggravated assault during that incident.
Bridges was again arrested for retail theft after reportedly taking $39 in medical supplies from a Lockport pharmacy in 1998. He was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia by sheriff's police the following year and criminal trespassing by Joliet police in 2000.
In 2002, Bridges was one of 27 people arrested in Operation Pick-Off, a yearlong undercover investigation of crack dealers operating on Joliet's East Side.
According to reports, over the next six years Joliet police arrested Bridges on drug charges three more times and on a charge of criminal sexual assault in July 2008.
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