Although summer has not yet begun, crime and violence have erupted in the heart of Little Edgewater, with indoor and outdoor events taking the form of shootings, muggings, beatings, robberies, thefts, and more. To say “things are heating up” is an understatement.
Recently, early on a chilly spring morning, a large white SUV travelled north in Edgewater past the Walgreens at 6121 North Broadway, where the driver opened fire, shooting 4-5 times and then doing a U-turn, turning east on Glenlake and heading toward Winthrop. After a while, police vehicles appeared to track down the source of the noise.
Mike G., walking his dog, exclaimed, “I had just stepped outside and turned onto Broadway with my dog when all of a sudden people started shooting.” He said he had heard some noise right beforehand, like a car hitting another car or somebody slamming car doors. Then there was the squealing of tires. Next came the shots.
That night, a young man with long reddish hair and a beard marched down the middle of the street one block from there, screaming he was going to “kill some people for taking my lighter!” He got into arguments with several drivers and yelled he would kill them too. Drivers yelled back—as did people walking by who were threatening to call the police. Some did call the police, they said.
Pedestrians hurried down the sidewalk and away from the individual, who was wearing several jackets. He was also wearing a scarf and several hats.
But no pants.
Four police SUVs raced past about 10 minutes later—but not to apprehend the ruddy gentleman (who was now going through a garbage can to find his lighter). However, they were headed north to Devon for some activity there—and they honked as they bulleted past, their little V6 engines gulping for air as they were pressed to the limit. The redheaded guy screamed at them as they passed and waved a stick, but he was not able to get them to stop and arrest him, shoot him, or notice him.
Late at night, one expects partygoers, partystumblers, and partyguzzlers to be crawling and creeping toward the bus stops and the taxi stands along Broadway and Clark and Sheridan and Devon. These sometimes violent, sometimes crazy—but always drunk—individuals scare off shoppers, parents with strollers, and the innocent who are walking their dogs and carrying their little plastic bags.
It makes no difference whether one is indoors or outdoors. This corridor along North Broadway gets rowdier as it gets later.
Stolen merchandise flies out of the bags carried by thieves into the McDonalds at 6231 North Broadway. People are buying anything from Pampers to hair conditioner stolen moments before from the CVS Pharmacy down the block. Condoms and iced tea, stolen from the Walgreens are for sale at McDonalds, as are bags of potato chips and dip. Jack Daniels stolen from the Whole Foods store a block further south can be gotten for very low prices, apparently.
Fights erupt when too many thieves show up at the same time to sell their stolen goods. Competition is fierce, and cooperation is not great. Thieves want their booze and their drugs, and they keep up their deliveries until they get their money at McDonalds. Customers and employees alike view the bags of merchandise and negotiate good prices.
Management is aware of the sale of stolen goods at McDonalds and condones it.
Thievery fuels a great deal of the activity, trade, and entertainment in that corridor of Edgewater.
Recently, a beating—not a fight—took place inside the Edgewater Public Library, 6000 N. Broadway. The beating was preceded by some loud words. The men argued, and one accused the other of stealing his backpack. In fact, the backpack in question was sitting right by the thief.
The accuser punched the other man about a dozen times, then picked him up and threw him around the computer lab. Then he punched him some more, took his backpack, dumped out the thief’s items, and marched out of the library.
None of the patrons, guards, or employees did anything to stop the beating.
A library employee –who did not want to be outed by name—said that nobody intervened most likely because the attacked man was “a thief and shoplifter well known in the neighborhood.” The employee said, “Everybody thought he deserved the beating.”
When the police arrived, they refused to acknowledge the information about the attacker and they allowed him to escape as he walked down the street. They reportedly wanted to talk to the victim instead. The library employee insisted she had told the police several times where the attacker had gone—and was afraid he would get away.
The attacker got away.
She confided things are getting more and more dangerous in this library all the time. Things are becoming more violent and patrons more argumentative than ever. She said it does no good to call the police, or have security guards.
She suggested the security guard may be baiting library users into fights and arguments, and that most the employees wish the library would just “get rid of her and get a new one.”
The librarian claimed the guard is one of the biggest problems the library is dealing with right now.
This employee worried that her library is turning into a free-for-all with fighting and screaming and hassles commonplace. She explained how in almost every case, the police get there so late it is just ridiculous.
Shelly F., a long-time resident on Rosemont, said she had moved to this neighborhood almost 20 years ago to be near Loyola. “I loved the notion I wouldn’t have to take a bus or drive to get to campus,” she explained. She said she was thrilled to find a nice apartment for a good price—complete with a little room over the steps for her computer and her files. “When I moved here, things were relatively safe, but now I never go out after dark.”
Such a charming place.