Neighborhood News

Published January 10, 2019 By Justin Kerr

A string of vandalism incidents plagued the McKinley Park neighborhood on Sunday night, January 6, according to Chicago Police and attendees at the January 9 meeting of the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS) meeting for Beat 912. Ninth District CAPS officer Jason Sollis outlined a string of succeeding vandalism crimes after an impassioned request for information from Antonio Cabezas, facilities manager at the National Latino Education Institute.

According to Cabezas, damage to the institute included graffiti and 17 windows being shot out with a BB gun, with total damages in the thousands of dollars. He estimated the incident took place between 10 p.m. and midnight.

12th Ward Aldermanic candidate Martha Rangel introduces her campaign at the CAPS meeting.Sollis noted similar crimes at around the same time: A tire shop on Western Boulevard had its windows shot out with marbles, a school building under construction on 35th Street sustained vandalism damage and a restaurant at Archer and Hoyne avenues also had its windows shot out with a BB gun.

Cabezas said the Institute had active video surveillance, but did not capture images of the perpetrators. When asked, Sollis said he would inquire about the potential of other video sources to help apprehend the criminals.

As part of his report on crime incidents over the past month, Sollis said "the numbers have been really good," with a couple notable exceptions. On December 19, a traffic stop at 31st and Archer resulted in a charge of an aggravated assault on a police officer when the driver, who was in a stolen vehicle, bolted and tried to run over police officers. No one was hurt, and the driver was apprehended. Sollis said the vehicle had been connected to a string of other nearby crimes.

A carjacking on January 1 in the Walgreens parking lot on 35th Street was conducted by three males between 20 and 25 years of age. Sollis said they approached a car with a passenger awaiting the driver's return, took the car and drove off.

On the evening of December 14, two make Hispanics between 18 and 20 years of age robbed a delivery driver for a restaurant at West 36th Street and South Hoyne Avenue, Sollis said. The sole motor vehicle theft took place on December 9 at 36th and Hoyne, when a delivery driver's vehicle was stolen during a food delivery, he said.

"We are actively working all these cases," Sollis said. Other monthly statistics from his report included 1,036 calls for service, five reports of shots fired and five total arrests.

The next CAPS Meeting for Beat 912 is set for 7 p.m. on Wednesday, February 13, at St. Maurice Church hall.

Photos provided by the National Latino Education Institute display some of the damage caused by the vandalism incident.