What’s New

Over the weekend in Touhy Park, 49th Ward Ald. Maria Hadden announced an Accelerated Moving Event to pair houseless residents with homes.Read More

Police investigate Monday where two armored truck guards were shot at a Bank of America branch in Chatham. | Brian Rich/Sun-Times

The guards were loading an ATM Monday morning in Chatham when two to four gunmen came up and demanded the cash, police say.

Two armored truck security guards were shot and critically wounded during an attempted robbery Monday in Chatham on the South Side.

The guards were loading an ATM at 10:20 a.m. at a Bank of America branch in the 200 block of West 83rd Street when two to four gunmen came up, demanded cash and opened fire, Chicago police said.

One of the guards, a 47-year-old woman, was shot six times and taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, police said. She was in traumatic arrest as paramedics brought her to the hospital, Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Merritt said.

The other guard, a 46-year-old man, was shot twice in his abdomen and taken to the same hospital in critical condition, police and fire officials said.

Police said the suspects, who were at-large, were wearing all black clothing and masks.

The gunmen did not take any of the cash, according to a spokeswoman for the FBI, which was handling the investigation.

Brian Rich/Sun-Times
Police investigate Monday where two armored truck guards were shot at a Bank of America branch in Chatham.

Employees at a home remodeling store next to the bank said they heard a few rounds of gunfire. They said witnessing gunfire is unfortunately becoming routine for them.

“We’re getting used to it,” said an employee who asked not to be named. “The worst part is these shootings aren’t happening at night, you know, they’re during the day. It’s scary.”

Monday’s shooting happened across the street from where a 15-year-old Simeon High School student was gunned down in September, just a block away from campus.

The two security guards were employed by Garda, which released a statement saying two of its employees were critically wounded in a “foiled robbery attempt.”

“At this time, we are focusing on supporting them and their immediate families,” a Garda spokesperson said in a statement. “We are working closely with the authorities in their investigation to find the perpetrators.”

Ald. Howard Brookins Jr. (21st) has a ward office near where the shooting happened that he shares with state Sen. Elgie Sims, Jr., D-Chicago and Cook County Commissioner Stanley Moore. They released a joint statement calling the shooting “yet another senseless act of gun violence.”

“We are facing a crisis moment in our communities. We are aware of the violence happening in Chicago and in other marginalized communities. We remain committed to protecting our communities and making them safer. True public safety will happen when we begin to reimagine our approach” they said in the statement.

In March, an armored truck crew shot a gunman who tried to rob them at a BMO Harris Bank branch in the North Austin neighborhood.

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Safari Land indoor amusement park at 701 North Ave. in Villa Park. | Google Maps

Today’s update is a 5-minute read that will brief you on the day’s biggest stories.

Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a 5-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.

This afternoon will be cloudy with a chance of snow and a high near 37. Tonight will be mostly cloudy with a slim chance of snow before 9 p.m. and a low around 32. Tomorrow will be partly sunny with a high near 53.

Top story

Shooter at Villa Park amusement park opened fire with several children ‘just feet away,’ prosecutors say

A Chicago man was ordered held on $1 million bail for allegedly shooting a man Saturday evening at a Villa Park amusement park in the presence of several young children.

Meco Norris, 25, pulled out a gun and shot a man three times at Safari Land indoor amusement park, 701 North Ave., according to the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office.

The man was taken to a hospital with gunshots to his chest, shoulder and elbow and was released that evening. Prosecutors did not say what led up to the shooting.

After the shooting, Norris ran into a residential area and was arrested around 3 a.m. Sunday at a home in Chicago, police said.

The shooting happened in the presence of several children, DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said.

“Mr. Norris’ alleged actions, with multiple children literally just feet away, demonstrate the most horrifying disregard for public safety I have seen in my 30-plus years as a prosecutor,” Berlin said in a statement.

There were also hundreds of other people inside the venue who witnessed the shooting, Villa Park Police Chief Michael Rivas said.

Read the full story here.

More news you need

Lawyers in the Kyle Rittenhouse murder trial made their closing arguments today before the jury begins deliberations on a verdict. Earlier in the day, the trial’s judge dismissed a count of possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18, AP reports — and you can read more coverage of the Rittenhouse trial here.

The city’s police board began a hearing today that could determine the future of Fraternal Order of Police president John Catanzara with the Chicago Police Department. Catanzara, who’s been with the department since 1995 and became FOP president last year, faces possible termination over obscene and inflammatory social media posts.

Additional reporting requirements will be imposed on Chicago police under a settlement advanced today to resolve a decade-long dispute over inequitable police deployment. The settlement with the ACLU of Illinois – one of five approved by the City Council’s Finance Committee – was the only one of that group not tied to allegations of police abuse.

Two armored truck security guards were shot and critically wounded during a robbery today in Chatham on the South Side, according to Chicago police. The guards were loading an ATM this morning when gunmen came up, demanded the cash and opened fire, authorities say.

Last week City Council’s Committee on Public Safety held an hours-long hearing on the much-maligned ShotSpotter technology that the city recently chose to continue using at the request of the Chicago Police Department. Fran Spielman has more on the debate over the city’s extension of its ShotSpotter contract and some Council members’ reactions.

A bright one

Spanish-language ‘Florencia en el Amazonas’ arrives at Lyric Opera in grand style

The lush jungle, alive and intensely green, saturated by the sun, is the first thing that hits you as you take your seat at Lyric Opera of Chicago. The spectacle is dense and glorious — then vaguely unsettling — as you become aware of mysterious skitterings behind the leaves.

“Florencia en el Amazonas” (Florencia in the Amazon) takes place on a boat trip up the Amazon, its destination Manaus, the inland capital of the Amazonas region, far up the river where, unbeknownst to these travelers, cholera looms. The vessel’s passengers are onboard for reasons they don’t quite understand, driven variously by love, or the fear of it, or the fading of it.

Cory Weaver
Ana Maria Martinez stars as the title character in the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s production of “Florencia en el Amazonas (Florencia in the Amazon).”

In the case of Florencia Grimaldi, a famous diva of the European opera stage, her visit is a quest born of the desire to rekindle a long-lost love. She once said goodbye to him in Manaus, she thought temporarily, in pursuit of an international career that was dangled after her Brazilian success. (He was a butterfly hunter back then, a specialist in his own right, chasing his own rare prize, the Emerald Muse.)

So is this “Love Boat,” with music and a happy ending?

Read more from Nancy Malitz’s review of the Lyric Opera House’s latest production.

From the press box

Bears offensive lineman Teven Jenkins returned to practice today for the first time since the spring. Jenkins, the team’s second-round pick, could give a struggling offensive line a welcomed boost.
The Cubs have hired Daniel Moskos, a former first-round pick who briefly played for the Pirates, as their assistant pitching coach. Moskos served as a pitching coach in the Yankees’ minor league system last season.
With the start of the high school basketball season one week away, our preview series begins with looks at five sleeper teams and five teams ready to make history this season.
Also, make sure to check out this morning’s High School Sports weekly newsletter for the latest from the state football quarterfinals and subscribe now for weekly updates from our Michael O’Brien!

Your daily question ?

What’s a food/snack you seek out to help keep warm when winter weather hits?

Send us an email at [email protected] and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.

On Friday, we asked you: Which of Chicago’s expressways needs improving the most? Tell us why. Here’s what some of you said…

“Eisenhower without question. Make it four lanes all the way and fix the Austin and Harlem exits.” — Nick Cincotti

“Hands down the Eisenhower. The only time during the day it’s not backed up is maybe between 11-1 on weekends.” — Kathy Celer

“Abolish the left side exits in Oak Park and you’ll make 290 drivable.” — David Guyon

“Bishop Ford. It floods when it rains. Extremely dangerous, not to mention the pot holes.” — T’Marie Parks

“No matter which expressways get funding to be improved, none of them should be expanded! There are SO many examples of highways around the US that were expanded and traffic stayed the same, or got even slower. Fix the roads but put that expansion money towards public transit, which actually reduces the need for everyone to drive in the first place.” — Ethan Saltzberg

Thanks for reading the Chicago Sun-Times Afternoon Edition. Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.

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AP

The NHL postponed three Ottawa Senators games on Monday amid a COVID-19 outbreak on the team, the first time any North American major professional sports league has been hit by rescheduling this fall because of the coronavirus.

Games scheduled for Tuesday at New Jersey, at home Thursday against Nashville and at home Saturday against the New York Rangers were postponed. Ten Senators players are currently in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.

While Ottawa played shorthanded Sunday in a 4-0 loss to Calgary, the depth of the outbreak led to the decision to postpone games, which the league said was made in light of evidence of continued spread in recent days. The Senators are shut down through at least Saturday, with their training facilities closed to players until then as a precaution.

“The Senators organization has, and will continue to follow, all recommended guidelines aimed at protecting the health and safety of its players, staff and community at large as set by the NHL, local, provincial and national agencies,” the league said in a statement.

Neither the NFL nor the NBA has had to postpone a game so far this fall. Major League Baseball had nine virus-related postponements among 2,430 scheduled games, down from 45 in last year’s shortened 900-game schedule.

The NHL postponed 51 games for virus reasons during its last regular season.

The league and Players’ Association have until Jan. 10 to withdraw from the 2022 Winter Olympics if pandemic circumstances force the cancellation of so many games that a nearly three-week break in February is not feasible. The NHL was still looking at when to reschedule the Senators’ games against the Devils, Predators and Rangers.

Ottawa canceled practice Monday to try and contain the outbreak, after forward Drake Batherson became the most recent Senators player to go into protocol. Besides the 10 players, associate coach Jack Capuano also is in protocol.

“The health and safety of the local community, the venue’s patrons and the organization’s staff and players is Senators Sports & Entertainment’s highest priority,” the team said.

A handful of other NHL teams have been hit by COVID-19 this season, including Pittsburgh and San Jose. Penguins star Sidney Crosby returned Sunday after an absence of more than 10 days because of the virus. Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon also missed time last month after testing positive, though he was asymptomatic.

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Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady is helped up after being hit and failing to convert on a third down against the Washington Football Team on Sunday. | Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images

Nobody is dominant, and everybody is vulnerable. Where’s the fun in that?

We come to the NFL for all sorts of reasons. Some people come for gambling, some for fantasy football, some for the enjoyment of supporting a team, some for the side benefit of despising another team or teams. Or maybe that last part is the main benefit.

Some are in need of diversion from the more serious issues in life. Some are congenital face painters. Some think they should be head coaches, and only Bill Belichick’s refusal to respond to their job-request letters and a judge’s subsequent restraining orders have kept them from their dreams.

Some, like me, come looking for greatness, which could be why I feel so empty these days. There aren’t any great teams. None. Zero. Halfway through the schedule, all we have is a conga line of false Messiahs. We might see a great performance from a team one week, but two weeks later, we’re wondering if it had been a hallucination.

The Buccaneers come immediately to mind. They’re the defending Super Bowl champions. They started the season 6-1, and we saw no reason to remove the Tony the Tiger extolment we had stamped on their foreheads: They’re grrrrreat! Tom Brady was still defying age, the offense was humming and where could one go to place a Super Bowl bet on these fine men who probably shut down puppy mills in their spare time?

But now Tampa Bay has lost two straight. Brady threw two interceptions in each of those games, and I’m thinking that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration might want to look into the diet and lifestyle he’s hawking.

I worry about our new NFL fans. I worry they don’t know what greatness is. I worry that they watched the winless Lions and the Ben Roethlisberger-less Steelers play to a 16-16 tie Sunday. I worry that they think this is football.

If you tell me the Cowboys are great because they blew out a very average Atlanta team Sunday and are now 7-2, I would say you apparently haven’t been paying attention to them the past 25 years. They will disappoint you because they always do, no matter how much oxygen ESPN devotes to them in daily chatter.

You say the Chiefs are back because they dropped 41 points on the Raiders on Sunday? I’m supposed to forget Kansas City’s ordinariness the previous nine games? I should pay no attention to the quarterback who, until Sunday, had been doing a lounge-act interpretation of Patrick Mahomes? Sorry, no, can’t do it. I’ll need more proof than one game.

The Chargers? Preseason hype had them on the road to greatness, but they took a left and have lost three of their last five.

Wait, the 8-2 Titans, winners of six straight, aren’t great? On general principle, no. I see their uniforms and I think of about five other teams from defunct leagues I can’t recall that had the same look. So I can’t crown them. A shallow opinion? Shallower than a one-foot-deep grave. OK, how about this for substance: One of the Titans’ losses was to the Jets. You can’t be great if you lose to the Jets. It’s in the U.S. Constitution. Look it up.

The Cardinals started the season 7-0 but have lost two of their past three games. You’ll rightly point out that star quarterback Kyler Murray missed the last two games with a sprained ankle, to which I’ll respond, EXACTLY. You don’t think this guy, at 5-feet-10, is an injury waiting to happen? The Cardinals lost 34-10 Sunday to the middling Panthers, who had to exhume Cam Newton because their top two quarterbacks were P.J. Walker and Matt Barkley. Shouldn’t a team as good at third-down defense as Arizona is be able to beat that crew? Carolina was 7 of 15 on third down Sunday.

Heading into Monday night’s game, the Rams’ only losses were to Arizona and Tennessee, which speaks of excellence. They have an excellent offense and Aaron Donald on defense. They were headed toward great, but they just signed me-first/I-second Odell Beckham Jr. The whole thing eventually will devolve into a telenovela. So, yeah, the Rams: dismissed.

I’ll duck immediately after finishing the next sentence, Bears fans: Are the hated Packers the best team in the NFL?

Perhaps. But are they great? No. Or at least not yet. And several starters, including running back Aaron Jones (media collateral ligament sprain) and linebacker Rashan Gary (hyperextended elbow), were injured Sunday in a victory over the Seahawks, who used to be somebody.

In this discussion of would-be (and-aren’t) great teams, I’m probably forgetting somebody. Probably because they’re forgettable.

The 2021 NFL: On Any Given Sunday, you can lose.

Unless you have a bye week, as the Bears, losers of four straight, did Sunday.

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Kyle Rittenhouse, right, looks on as the jury is let out of the room during a break during his trail at the Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wis., on Monday, Nov. 15, 2021. Rittenhouse is accused of killing two people and wounding a third during a protest over police brutality in Kenosha, last year. | AP

“You lose the right to self-defense when you’re the one who brought the gun, when you are the one creating the danger, when you’re the one provoking other people,” Prosecutor Thomas Binger told the jury.

KENOSHA, Wis. — Kyle Rittenhouse provoked bloodshed on the streets of Kenosha by bringing a semi-automatic rifle to a protest and menacing others, and when the shooting stopped, he walked off like a “hero in a Western,” a prosecutor said in closing arguments Monday at Rittenhouse’s murder trial.

But Rittenhouse’s attorney countered that the shooting started after the young man was ambushed by a “crazy person” that night and became afraid his gun was going to be wrested away and used to kill him.

Rittenhouse, then 17, killed two men and wounded a third during a tumultuous night of protests against racial injustice in the summer of 2020 — a case that has stirred bitter debate in the U.S. over guns, vigilantism and law and order.

Rittenhouse said he went to Kenosha from his home in nearby Antioch, Illinois, to protect property from rioters in the days after a Black man, Jacob Blake, was shot by a white Kenosha police officer. Rittenhouse, a former police youth cadet, is white, as were those he shot.

In closing arguments, prosecutor Thomas Binger repeatedly showed the jury drone video that he said depicted Rittenhouse pointing the AR-style weapon at demonstrators.

“This is the provocation. This is what starts this incident,” the prosecutor declared.

He told the jury: “You lose the right to self-defense when you’re the one who brought the gun, when you are the one creating the danger, when you’re the one provoking other people.”

Rittenhouse, now 18, faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison if convicted of the most serious charge against him, first-degree intentional homicide, which is Wisconsin’s top murder charge.

Binger zeroed in on the killing of 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum, who was the first man gunned down that night and whose shooting set in motion the bloodshed that followed. The prosecutor repeatedly called it murder, saying it was unjustified.

The prosecutor reminded jurors that Rittenhouse testified he knew Rosenbaum was unarmed. Binger also said there is no video to support the defense claim that Rosenbaum threatened to kill Rittenhouse.

Binger disputed the notion that Rosenbaum was trying to grab Rittenhouse’s rifle. “Mr. Rosenbaum is not even within arm’s reach when the first shot occurs,” Binger said. He rejected the idea that Rittenhouse had no choice but to shoot, saying he could have run away.

And Binger argued that once Rosenbaum was wounded, he was not even capable of taking away the gun, which was strapped to Rittenhouse’s body, since he was falling to the ground with a fractured pelvis. Rittenhouse kept firing, delivering what the prosecutor called the “kill shot” to Rosenbaum’s back.

“I think we can also agree that we shouldn’t have 17-year-olds running around our streets with AR-15s, because this is exactly what happens,” Binger said.

After killing Rosenbaum, Rittenhouse shot and killed Anthony Huber, 26, and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, 28, while trying to make his way through the crowd.

Rittenhouse testified that Huber hit him with a skateboard and that Grosskreutz came at him with a gun of his own — an account largely corroborated by video and some of the prosecution’s own witnesses.

But Binger said Rittenhouse provoked the bloodshed that followed Rosenbaum’s shooting: Huber, Grosskreutz and others in the crowd were trying to stop what they believed was an active shooter.

When it was all over, Rittenhouse walked away like a “hero in a Western — without a care in the world for anything he’s just done,” Binger said.

In his own closing argument, defense attorney Mark Richards called Rosenbaum a “rioter” and a “crazy person” who went after Rittenhouse.

“Mr. Rosenbaum was shot because he was chasing my client and going to kill him, take his gun and carry out the threats he made,” Richards said.

Richards said Rittenhouse was then attacked by a “mob.” The defense attorney accused prosecutors of calling Rittenhouse an “active shooter” because of “the loaded connotations of that word.”

When the prosecutor displayed a photograph of Rosenbaum’s bloodied body on a gurney during his autopsy and another of Rosenbaum’s mangled hand, some jurors appeared to avert their eyes from the TV monitors. And later, when Binger displayed a close-up photo of Grosskreutz’s bicep largely obliterated by a bullet, several jurors winced and turned away.

As he spoke, Binger walked up to the jury box and lifted the rifle used in the shootings as if he were firing, pointing the weapon at a wall.

Rittenhouse’s mother, Wendy Rittenhouse, listened intently in the courtroom.

Supporters have hailed Rittenhouse as a hero who took a stand against lawlessness; foes have branded him a vigilante.

Binger began his closing arguments by questioning whether Rittenhouse was genuinely trying to help.

The prosecutor noted that Rittenhouse had ammunition capable of traveling the length of five football fields and passing through cars, and asked the jury: “Why do you need 30 rounds of full metal jacket (ammo) to protect a building?” And he said the rifle was incompatible with Rittenhouse’s claim that he was there as a medic.

He said Rittenhouse and others like him were “wannabe soldiers” and “chaos tourists” drawn to the unrest in Kenosha. Rittenhouse thought he was a junior police officer who could run around and stop crime, according to the prosecutor. He said Rittenhouse was “looking for trouble.”

Earlier Monday, Judge Bruce Schroeder dismissed a count of possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18, a misdemeanor that had appeared to be among the likeliest of the charges to net a conviction for prosecutors. The was punishable by up to nine months in jail.

But the defense argued that Wisconsin law has an exception related to the length of a weapon’s barrel. After prosecutors conceded Monday that Rittenhouse’s rifle was not short-barreled, the judge threw out the charge.

Perhaps in recognition of weaknesses in their case, prosecutors asked the judge to let the jury consider several lesser charges if they acquit him on the original counts. Schroeder agreed to do so as he launched into 36 pages of legal instructions to the jury, explaining the charges and the laws of self-defense.

In his instructions, the judge said that to decide that Rittenhouse acted lawfully in self-defense, the jury must find that he believed there was an unlawful threat to him and that the amount of force he used was reasonable and necessary.

After closing arguments, names were to be drawn to determine which 12 of the 18 jurors who heard testimony would deliberate, with the rest dismissed as alternates.

With a verdict near, Gov. Tony Evers said that 500 National Guard members would be prepared for duty in Kenosha if local law enforcement requested them.

Bauer reported from Madison and Forliti reported from Minneapolis. Associated Press writer Tammy Webber contributed from Fenton, Michigan.

Bauer reported from Madison and Forliti reported from Minneapolis. Associated Press writer Tammy Webber contributed from Fenton, Michigan.

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Participants in a Pride Parade in California on Nov. 7, 2021. | Rich Fury/Getty Images

Concerns about safety and belonging stem from real and acute threats to physical, mental, and emotional safety. In 2020 The Human Rights Campaign reports a record number of incidents of fatal violence against transgender and gender non-conforming people.

Actor Kal Penn recently announced his engagement to his partner of 11 years, simultaneously coming out to the world in his new memoir. Making a nod to the fluidity of sexuality, Penn noted he arrived at this chapter of his sexuality later in life, and that his family and loved ones were loving and supportive, which he readily acknowledges is not the case for all.

That is true, as recent alarming reports on the health and safety of LGBTQ+ students from high school through college show the serious physical and mental health concerns of these young people.

The recent Proud & Thriving Project reveals LGBTQ+ high school, college, and university students experience a higher incidence of substance misuse, depression, suicidal ideation and academic and extracurricular disengagement as compared to their non-LGBTQ+ peers. These trends have been exacerbated during the pandemic.

The 2021 The Trevor Project National Survey on LGBTQ Mental Health report found 42% of LGBTQ youth between 13-24 reported that they seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year. The situation is even more dire for transgender and non-binary, Native/Indigenous, Black, multiracial, and Latinx youth.

Key risk factors stem from living in a non-LGBTQ affirming space; lack of access to mental health counseling; food insecurity; acts of discrimination on the basis of sex, gender and/or race; and the experience of recent political events.

In the broader political realm, U.S Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, as a gay father, was ridiculed of for taking parental leave.

The Human Rights Campaign noted 2021 has officially become the worst year in recent history for LGBTQ state legislative attacks, with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott recently signing a bill restricting transgender student athletes from participation.

At the recent 29th annual The Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender Asexual College Conference (MBLGTACC), the largest and oldest-continuously running conference of this type in the U.S., panels and workshops covered topics including allyship.

As an assistant professor of sociology who teaches courses on inequality, gender, and sexuality, I identify as an ally and have been trained to see and understand my privileges of race, class, cisgender status, sexuality, and family.

Growing up in Los Angeles, and living in New York City for 10 years before relocating to the Midwest, I experience firsthand that advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community is different by location and community.

Worst schools for LGBTQ+ students

As of 2015, only three states in the Midwest, Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota, provide sexual orientation and gender identity protections. One state, Wisconsin, provides sexual orientation protections and the Midwest region reports the lowest rate of college completion among LGBTQ+ individuals.

At the recent Midwest college conference, students and presenters shared stories of regional trauma and the fears many LGBTQ+ members have that is unique to this collection of states.

Campus Pride, an LGBTQ nonprofit, released its annual report on the most unsafe and worst colleges for LGBTQ youth. Five colleges and universities in Illinois are on the list: Moody Bible Institute in Chicago; Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbannais; Judson University in Elgin; Trinity International University in Deerfield and Wheaton College in Wheaton. Three colleges in Indiana are on that list: Taylor University, Bethel University, and Indiana Wesleyan University.

Indiana Wesleyan is one of 26 schools named in a class action lawsuit spanning 19 states, Hunter v. the U.S. Department of Education, citing the abuses that thousands of LGBTQ+ students endured at these colleges and universities over the years.

The Worst List was first published in 2015, and this last year has seen the most extensive additions of schools to the list. To make it on to the Worst List, a college has to have done one of the following: demonstrated anti-LGBTQ actions, programs and practices or either received or requested Title IX exemption to discriminate against LGBTQ youth.

While extreme policies make it easy to identify a non-welcoming climate, there are many levels of structural barriers that would prevent students from feeling safe. The Proud and Thriving report identified structural interventions to better support LGBTQ+ youth, ranging from LGBTQ+ affirming policies to cultural competency training for faculty, staff, and counselors to combat heterosexist, mono-sexist, and cis-sexist approaches.

Safety is a right

Concerns about safety and belonging stem from real and acute threats to physical, mental, and emotional safety. In 2020 The Human Rights Campaign reports a record number of incidents of fatal violence against transgender and gender non-conforming people, with 2021 on track to break that record.

A study of youth in grades 7-12 found that lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth were more than twice as likely to have attempted suicide as their heterosexual peers. Additionally, 86% of LGBTQ+ students report being harassed or assaulted at school.

Cultural competency includes understanding regional context and needs. What works in one region or state might actually cause additional injury or harm to the community when regional history is not part of the equation. Responsibility falls to allies to make sure their work is always grounded in learning, listening, adapting, and employing reflexivity.

It is imperative that everyone, particularly those with privilege and administrative access and decision-making duties, work to create equality, safety and inclusion for all youth in their schools and communities. Their safety is not a privilege — it is their right.

Send letters to [email protected]

Elizabeth Ziff is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Indianapolis. For LGBTQ+ youth, The Trevor Project is available 24/7, 1-866-488-7386

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Police investigate Monday where two armored truck guards were shot at a BMO Harris Bank branch in Chatham. | Manny Camarillo/Sun-Times

The guards were loading an ATM Monday morning in Chatham when two to four gunmen came up and demanded the cash, police say.

Two armored truck security guards were shot and critically wounded during an attempted robbery Monday in Chatham on the South Side.

The guards were loading an ATM at 10:20 a.m. at a Bank of America branch in the 200 block of West 83rd Street when two to four gunmen came up, demanded cash and opened fire, Chicago police said.

One of the guards, a 47-year-old woman, was shot six times and taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, police said. She was in traumatic arrest as paramedics brought her to the hospital, Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Merritt said.

The other guard, a 46-year-old man, was shot twice in his abdomen and taken to the same hospital in critical condition, police and fire officials said.

Police said the suspects, who were at-large, were wearing all black clothing and masks.

The gunmen did not take any of the cash, according to a spokeswoman for the FBI, which was handling the investigation.

Employees at a home remodeling store next to the bank said they heard a few rounds of gunfire. They said witnessing gunfire is unfortunately becoming routine for them.

“We’re getting used to it,” said an employee who asked not to be named. “The worst part is these shootings aren’t happening at night, you know, they’re during the day. It’s scary.”

The two security guards were employed by Garda, which released a statement saying two of its employees were critically wounded in “foiled robbery attempt.”

“At this time, we are focusing on supporting them and their immediate families,” a Garda spokesperson said in a statement. “We are working closely with the authorities in their investigation to find the perpetrators.”

Monday’s shooting happened across the street from where a 15-year-old Simeon High School student was gunned down in September, just a block away from campus.

In March, an armored truck crew shot a gunman who tried to rob them at a BMO Harris Bank branch in the North Austin neighborhood.

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Kyle Rittenhouse, right, looks on as the jury is let out of the room during a break during his trail at the Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wis., on Monday, Nov. 15, 2021. Rittenhouse is accused of killing two people and wounding a third during a protest over police brutality in Kenosha, last year. | AP

“You lose the right to self-defense when you’re the one who brought the gun, when you are the one creating the danger, when you’re the one provoking other people,” Thomas Binger told the jury.

KENOSHA, Wis. — Kyle Rittenhouse provoked bloodshed on the streets of Kenosha by bringing a semi-automatic rifle to a protest and menacing others, and when the shooting stopped, he walked off like a “hero in a Western,” a prosecutor said in closing arguments Monday at Rittenhouse’s murder trial.

Thomas Binger repeatedly showed the jury drone video that he said depicted Rittenhouse pointing the AR-style weapon at demonstrators.

“This is the provocation. This is what starts this incident,” the prosecutor declared.

Rittenhouse, now 18, killed two men and wounded a third during a tumultuous night of protests against racial injustice in the summer of 2020, in a case that has stirred bitter debate in the U.S. over guns, vigilantism and law and order.

Rittenhouse, then 17, said he went to Kenosha from his home in nearby Antioch, Illinois, to protect property from rioters in the days after a Black man, Jacob Blake, was shot by a white Kenosha police officer. Rittenhouse, a former police youth cadet, is white, as were those he shot.

Rittenhouse testified he came under attack from protesters, feared his gun would be taken away and used against him, and acted in self-defense.

But Binger told the jury: “You lose the right to self-defense when you’re the one who brought the gun, when you are the one creating the danger, when you’re the one provoking other people.”

The defense was expected to deliver its closing argument in the afternoon.

Rittenhouse faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison if convicted of the most serious charge against him, first-degree intentional homicide, which is Wisconsin’s top murder charge.

In his closing argument, Binger zeroed in on the killing of 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum, who was the first man gunned down that night and whose shooting set in motion the bloodshed that followed. The prosecutor repeatedly called it murder, saying it was unjustified.

The prosecutor reminded jurors that Rittenhouse testified he knew Rosenbaum was unarmed. Binger also said there is no video to support the defense claim that Rosenbaum threatened to kill Rittenhouse.

Binger disputed the notion that Rosenbaum was trying to grab Rittenhouse’s rifle. “Mr. Rosenbaum is not even within arm’s reach when the first shot occurs,” Binger said. He rejected the idea that Rittenhouse had no choice but to shoot, saying he could have run away.

And Binger argued that once Rosenbaum was wounded, he was not even capable of taking away the gun, which was strapped to Rittenhouse’s body, since he was falling to the ground with a fractured pelvis. Rittenhouse kept firing, delivering what the prosecutor called the “kill shot” to Rosenbaum’s back.

“I think we can also agree that we shouldn’t have 17-year-olds running around our streets with AR-15s, because this is exactly what happens,” Binger said.

After killing Rosenbaum, Rittenhouse shot and killed Anthony Huber, 26, and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, 28, while trying to make his way through the crowd.

Rittenhouse testified that Huber hit him with a skateboard, and that Grosskreutz came at him with a gun of his own — an account largely corroborated by a wealth of video and some of the prosecution’s own witnesses.

But Binger said Rittenhouse provoked the bloodshed that followed Rosenbaum’s shooting: Huber, Grosskreutz and others in the crowd were trying to stop what they believed was an active shooter, exercising their own right to self-defense.

When it was all over, Rittenhouse walked away like a “hero in a Western — without a care in the world for anything he’s just done,” Binger said.

When the prosecutor displayed a photograph of Rosenbaum’s bloodied body lying on a gurney during his autopsy and another of Rosenbaum’s mangled hand, some jurors appeared to avert their eyes from the TV monitors. And later, when Binger displayed a close-up photo of Grosskreutz’s bicep largely obliterated by a bullet through his arm, several jurors winced and turned away.

As he spoke, Binger walked up to the jury box and lifted the actual rifle used in the shootings as if he were firing, the prosecutor looking down its barrel and pointing it at courtroom wall.

Rittenhouse’s mother, Wendy Rittenhouse, listened intently in the courtroom.

Supporters have hailed Rittenhouse as a hero who took a stand against lawlessness; foes have branded him a vigilante.

Binger began his closing arguments by questioning whether Rittenhouse was genuinely trying to help.

The prosecutor noted that Rittenhouse had ammunition capable of traveling the length of five football fields and passing through cars, and asked the jury: “Why do you need 30 rounds of full metal jacket (ammo) to protect a building?” And he said the rifle was incompatible with Rittenhouse’s claim that he was there as a medic.

He said Rittenhouse and others like him were “wannabe soldiers” and “chaos tourists” drawn to the unrest in Kenosha. Rittenhouse thought he was a junior police officer who could run around and stop crime, according to the prosecutor. He said Rittenhouse was “looking for trouble.”

Earlier Monday, Judge Bruce Schroeder dismissed a count of possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18, a misdemeanor that had appeared to be among the likeliest of the charges to net a conviction for prosecutors.

The underage weapon charge was punishable by up to nine months in jail.

But the defense argued that Wisconsin law has an exception related to the length of a weapon’s barrel. After prosecutors conceded Monday that Rittenhouse’s rifle was not short-barreled, the judge threw out the charge.

Perhaps in recognition of weaknesses in their case, prosecutors asked the judge to let the jury consider several lesser charges if they acquit him on the original counts. Schroeder agreed to do so Monday as he launched into 36 pages of instructions to the jury, explaining the charges and the laws of self-defense.

In his instructions, the judge said that to decide that Rittenhouse acted lawfully in self-defense, the jury must find that he believed there was an unlawful threat to him and that the amount of force he used was reasonable and necessary.

After closing arguments, names were to be drawn to determine which 12 of the 18 jurors who heard testimony would deliberate, with the rest dismissed as alternates.

With a verdict near, Gov. Tony Evers said that 500 National Guard members would be prepared for duty in Kenosha if local law enforcement requested them.

___

Bauer reported from Madison and Forliti reported from Minneapolis. Associated Press writer Tammy Webber contributed from Fenton, Michigan.

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Police investigate Monday where two armored truck guards were shot at a BMO Harris Bank branch in Chatham. | Manny Camarillo/Sun-Times

The guards were loading an ATM Monday morning in Chatham when two to four gunmen came up and demanded the cash, police say.

Two armored truck security guards were shot and critically wounded during an attempted robbery Monday in Chatham on the South Side.

The guards were loading an ATM at 10:20 a.m. at a Bank of America branch in the 200 block of West 83rd Street when two to four gunmen came up, demanded cash and opened fire, Chicago police said.

One of the guards, a 47-year-old woman, was shot six times and taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, police said. She was in traumatic arrest as paramedics brought her to the hospital, Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Merritt said.

The other guard, a 46-year-old man, was shot twice in his abdomen and taken to the same hospital in critical condition, police and fire officials said.

Police said the suspects, who were at-large, were wearing all black clothing and masks.

The gunmen did not take any of the cash, according to a spokeswoman for the FBI, which was handling the investigation.

In March, an armored truck crew shot a gunman who tried to rob them at a BMO Harris Bank branch in the North Austin neighborhood.

Monday’s shooting happened across the street from where a 15-year-old Simeon High School student was gunned down in September, just a block away from campus.

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