Michael Bussan considers himself a tough guy, but the Uber driver couldn’t help crying as he rushed a wounded man and his brother to a hospital after they crashed their car while fleeing from a shooting.
“His brother is screaming, ‘I’ve got you bro, I’ve got you bro,'” Bussan said. “I’ve never seen two people care so much about each other.”
Bussan said he had dropped off a passenger in the South Loop when he saw the crash in the 1000 block of South Clark Street around 11:30 p.m.
The brothers and another person had been riding in a silver Chevrolet Malibu when someone in another car fired at them around 11:20 p.m., hitting one of the brothers several times in the abdomen in the 2900 block of South Indiana Avenue.
The driver of the Malibu continued driving to get to a hospital, but crashed into a Jeep Wrangler, police said. Coming on the scene, Bussan said he asked what happened and was told a man had been shot but that an ambulance was still several minutes away.
People were staring at the scene from a distance with their phones out, said Bussan, 46. “They wouldn’t get out of their cars. And I’m like, ‘Are you going to help him?’
“I’m like, ‘I’ll take you, both of you,” Bussan said he told the 21-year-old gunshot victim and his brother. “Take care of your brother while I’m driving.”
Bussan said the brother called his mother, a nurse, who told him to remove his shirt and apply pressure on the wounds. “Just push your hands against his stomach and hold in as much blood as you can,” Bussan recalled her saying.
“I was doing like 100 mph down Columbus to get to that hospital,” he said. “And when I entered there, I was yelling, ‘I’ve got a kid with bullet wounds and he’s dying. He’s got minutes.'”
Bussan said doctors stabilized the man’s condition, but he remained on a ventilator due to the trauma and blood loss. Police said the man was listed in critical condition.
The brother’s mother showed up to the hospital and thanked Bussan for “giving them an opportunity to fight for their lives,” he said.
Bussan said he teared up while witnessing one brother care for the other. “I’m a bodybuilder, powerlifter, and I’m Polish and Russian. If we sit there and cry, they’d say man up,” Bussan said.
“Last night, everyone who called me said, ‘God was on your side,'” he added. “That’s the first time I’ve seen bunch of 300-pound men say, ‘God was with you, bro.’ Everyone had a soft side last night. And I’m like, this is the only night we’re sharing this, otherwise we’re a bunch of tough guys.”
Rarely heard operatic gems are on the roster for the latest edition of Lyric Opera’s Rising Stars in Concert, which features an ensemble of artists who have trained at Lyric’s Ryan Opera Center. The performers are sopranos Maria Novella Malfatti and Denis Velez; mezzo-sopranos Katherine Beck, Katherine DeYoung and Kathleen Felty; tenors Martin Luther Clark and Lunga Eric Hallam; baritones Leroy Davis and Ricardo Jose Rivera; bass-baritone David Weigel, and bass Anthony Reed. Accompaniment is provided by a chamber ensemble of Lyric Opera Orchestra members and Ryan Opera Center pianist Chris Reynolds; Christopher Allen conducts. The concert streams at 7 p.m. April 29 and then on demand. Visit lyricopera.org.
Sea songs
Tom KastleJeff Vrstal
Suddenly sea shanties are a thing. The genre has been trending online and awakening interest in these work songs that originated on large merchant sailing ships. For decades Tom Kastle has been traveling the world, collecting and performing these maritime songs and stories while also captaining sailing ships on the Great Lakes. The Madison, Wisconsin-based singer performs shanties and more in a livestreamed concert at 8 p.m. April 29 via the Old Town School of Folk Music. Tickets: $20. Visit oldtownschool.org.
Sporting news
Toni GinnettiSun-Times file
Chicagosports fans can catch the annual Ring Lardner Awards Ceremony when the event streams live at 7 p.m. April 29. The awards, presented by Union League Boys & Girls Clubs, honor excellence in sports journalism. This year’s honorees are former Chicago Sun-Times sportswriter Toni Ginnetti; WGN-Channel 9 sports anchor Dan Roan and, posthumously, former Chicago Tribune sports editor Cooper Rollow. Featured are panel discussions about their experiences in sports journalism and a silent auction of sports memorabilia with proceeds benefiting Union League. Visit ulbgc.org/events/ringlardner2021/.
Out of this world
Julie Proudfoot (left) and Shariba Rivers in “Goods.”Artemisia Theatre
Lauren Ferebee’s new play “Goods,” a sci-fi adventure about two intergalactic trash collectors, recently won the 2021 Planet Earth Arts Playwriting Award from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. The play now receives its virtual world premiere via Artemisia Theatre. Julie Proudfoot and Shariba Rivers star as the trash collectors who embark on a mysterious mission in their small and dingy spaceship; E. Faye Butler directs. “Goods” streams May 5-30. Tickets: $30. Visit artemisiatheatre.org.
Reconnect with hope
Dylan Gutierrez and Jeraldine Mendoza in “Under the Trees’ Voices.”Matt de la Pena
The Joffrey Ballet’s Studio Series continues with “Under the Trees’ Voices,” a new work choreographed by the company’s rehearsal director Nicolas Blanc. Featuring 15 Joffrey artists, the piece is set to “Symphony No. 2” by Italian composer Ezio Bosso. Blanc was listening to the piece in the spring of 2020 as he walked along Lake Michigan and was inspired to create the new work as he noticed the changes in people’s moods as the weather began to improve. “It was so nice to reconnect with nature, which is such a powerful component in our lives as it helps us regain more profoundly our inner self,” Blanc says. “The piece is definitely meant to be hopeful.” “Under the Trees’ Voices” streams free at 7 p.m. April 30 and then on demand. Visit joffrey.org.
Drive-in chills
“Midsommar”A24
We’re halfway to Halloween, so what better time for “Half-O-Ween: Horror Weekend at the Drive-In,” a mini-fest featuring five classic horror films presented by the Music Box Theatre and Creepy Co. The lineup features “Halloween III: Season of the Witch” (April 30), “Midsommar” and “Alucarda” (May 1), “Friday the 13th, Part III” and “Sleepaway Camp” (May 2). Enjoy the chills at Chi-Town Drive-In, 2343 S. Throop. Tickets: $30/car for single feature, $45/car for double feature. Visit musicboxtheatre.com.
Celebrating Martha
Xin Ying (left) and Lloyd Knight in “Saraband.”Brigid Pierce
The Martha Graham Dance Company celebrates its 95th anniversary with “GrahamFest95,” a three-day virtual festival featuring an array of Graham’s classic works (including “Saraband,” “Deep Song” and “Conversations of Lovers”), the company premiere of Elisa Monte’s “Treading,” four solo works by Sir Robert Cohan, a duet from Troy Schumacher’s “The Auditions” and more. The festival wraps up with a closing night Zoom event with the dancers. Streams from April 30-May 2. Tickets: $30/program; $95 festival pass; closing night party $40. For more information, visit marthagraham.org.
Virtual stage
“Vancouver”Ma-Yi Theater Company
Ma-Yi Theater Company and Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival present “Vancouver,” a puppet play about a mixed-race family who relocate from Japan to the Pacific Northwest. Streams at 6 p.m. April 30. Free, donations appreciated. Visit ma-yistudios.com or chicagopuppetfest.org. … American Blues Theater’s reading series continues with Karissa Murrell Myers’ “On the Greenbelt,” a drama about a woman who can’t shake the memories that haunt her. Tickets: pay-what-you-can. Visit americanbluestheater.com. … Ghostlight Ensemble presents a reading of Victoria Benedictsson’s “The Enchantment.” Streams at 2 p.m. May 2. Tickets: pay-what-you-can. Visit ghostlightensemble.com. … Del Shores’ “Southern Baptist Sissies” is featured in a reading by Pride Arts. Streams at 7 p.m. May 4. Tickets: $10. Visit pridearts.org.
“Why you shooting me?” Anthony Alvarez, wounded on the pavement, asks the officer. “You had a gun,” said the officer.
Video released Wednesday shows a Chicago police officer fatally shoot Anthony Alvarez as he ran from police with a gun in his hand in the Portage Park neighborhood.
A Chicago police officer yells “Drop the gun! Drop the gun!” before firing five shots from close range, according to the police bodycam video released by the city’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which investigates police shootings.
Alvarez, 22, collapses onto the front sidewalk of a home on the 5200 block of West Eddy Street in the early-morning hours of March 31.
A gun can be seen in Alvarez’s right hand in the footage captured by the body camera of the officer who pulled the trigger.
Video from a camera mounted to a home feet from where Alvarez collapsed shows a gun drop from his hand as he falls to the pavement.
“Why you shooting me?” Alvarez asks the officer.
“You had a gun,” said the officer, who then tells his partner to place handcuffs on Alvarez.
“No, I’m going to render aid,” his partner says before applying a tourniquet and administering chest compressions.
The video doesn’t show Alvarez pointing a gun at the officers in pursuit.
Pat Nabong/Sun-TimesA memorial for Anthony Alvarez is set up at North Laramie Avenue and West Eddy Street in the Portage Park neighborhood, near the spot where Alvarez was fatally shot by a Chicago police officer.
Alvarez was wounded twice, once in the right side of his back with an exit wound in the upper right chest, and once in his right thigh, according to a police document released Wednesday. He was pronounced dead at Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
The Chicago Police Department and COPA said Alvarez ran off as tactical officers approached him at a gas station, leading to a foot chase. What the officers wanted from Alvarez wasn’t disclosed.
However, at an unrelated news conference before the video was released, Mayor Lori Lightfoot referred to it as “a minor traffic offense,” saying: “We can’t live in a world where a minor traffic offense results in someone being shot and killed. That’s not acceptable to me and shouldn’t be acceptable to anyone.”
COPA announced Wednesday it had recommended the officer who shot Alvarez be relieved of police powers during the investigation, which would mean the officer would be placed on paid desk duty after a standard 30-day leave.
Police Supt. David Brown said Wednesday at a news conference that he hadn’t been notified of the COPA recommendation.
Brown declined to share additional details of the shooting, what led to it or his thoughts on it, saying it was important he refrain from sharing his opinion so COPA could conduct a “clean and clear” investigation.
The 30-year-old officer who fired the fatal shots joined the force in 2015, according to the Invisible Institute, which tracks police discipline. The Institute’s website says the officer was accused of misconduct in a South Side traffic stop in 2017, but the case was closed without being sustained. The Sun-Times isn’t naming him because he isn’t officially accused of wrongdoing.
Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara said the shooting was justified.
“It’s a 100% good shooting,” he said, adding that, in his opinion, Alvarez was turning, gun in hand, to face the officer when the shooting occurred.
“The offender was trying to turn to the left, you don’t wait until the guy turns all the way around and squares up to you until you shoot,” he said.
Catanzara said the officer, in fear for his life, moved left to seek cover behind nearby parked cars when he fired his weapon.
“The officer actually even raises his left hand almost to his face, almost trying to block a bullet, it goes to the mindset of where the officer was,” he said.
Lightfoot and attorneys representing the Alvarez family issued a joint statement Wednesday morning asking for people who wish to “express themselves” in response to the video “do so peacefully and with respect for our communities and the residents of Chicago.
The shooting happened two days after an officer shot and killed Toledo on March 29 in Little Village. Toledo’s killing also happened during a foot chase, prompting Lightfoot to direct CPD to draft a new foot pursuit policy.
Ashlee Rezin Garcia | Sun-TimesA protest march earlier this month in and around Logan Square was sparked by the fatal shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo, but some participants also wanted to call attention the police shooting of Anthony Alvarez.
WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO
The mayor said Wednesday the police department is making progress on her directive to revise the foot chase policy.
“As I’ve said before, it’s one of the most dangerous activities that officers engage in. Dangerous for themselves. Dangerous for the person being pursued. And it’s dangerous for members of the public.”
Lightfoot urged everyone to “look at both the raw footage” of the Alvarez shooting “at real speed” as well as the “frame-by-frame” of what happened.
“I understand, having investigated many of these shootings, that officers are, in many instances, called upon to make split-second decisions, particularly in instances like this one where there’s a gun,” said Lightfoot, a former Police Board president.
“Nonetheless … a traffic incident … should not result in the death of anyone. So we have more work to do to be sure.”
Lightfoot said she hopes to have that new foot chase policy ready for public review sometime next month.
But, she said, it’s got to be done “the right way” with plenty of input.
“What I’ve encouraged the department to do is to make sure they’re engaging on the front-end with key stakeholders, not the least of which is line police officers who are gonna be responsible for implementing whatever the new policy is. We have to have their voices, as well as community voices, in those discussions … and reflected in the new policy,” the mayor said.
“It’s really important that we get it right,” Brown said of the policy.
Miguel Cabrera reacts after hitting a solo home run against the White Sox during the first inning Tuesday, April 27, 2021, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Kamil Krzaczynski) | AP Photos
Miguel Cabrera took issue with White Sox rookie Nick Madrigal’s accusations Wednesday, saying the second baseman’s warnings to pitcher Lucas Giolito and catcher Yasmani Grandal that signs were being stolen Tuesday night were unfounded.
Tigers star Miguel Cabrera took issue with White Sox rookie Nick Madrigal’s accusations Wednesday, saying the second baseman’s warning to pitcher Lucas Giolito and catcher Yasmani Grandal that signs were being stolen during the Tigers’ 5-2 win over the Sox Tuesday at Guaranteed Rate Field were unfounded.
Talking to media on a zoom call Wednesday, Cabrera, who hit a 445-foot home run in the first inning, jawed with Madrigal during the sixth inning while Robbie Grossman was on second base.
“It was the second baseman,” Cabrera said. “He tried to tell the catcher and the pitcher that we passed the signs. I mean, come on, that’s some bulls—t. I don’t play that game. You need to respect the game. You don’t need to show up me or the runner on second, trying to say we passed the sign from second. Come on, get the f— out of here.”
Tigers manager AJ Hinch was fired by the Astros and suspended by MLB in 2020 for his role, as the team’s manager, in an elaborate video sign-stealing scandal. It was suggested to Cabrera that Hinch’s history might have heightened the Sox’ awareness of stealing signs, even from the bases.
“I don’t care why they’re doing it, but they need to stop because we don’t play that game,” Cabrera said. “That’s why I said something to him right away.”
Cabrera said his concern Tuesday was that the Tigers might face retaliation at the plate on Wednesday.
“Everybody is paranoid about [sign-stealing] right now, but [the Sox] are over the limit. They need to respect that. If we didn’t say that, the next day we’re going to be hit by a pitch or something like that. And we don’t play that game, we respect the game.”
Asked about it Wednesday, Sox manager Tony La Russa said he respected Cabrera’s take but also said it’s Madrigal’s job as a middle infielder to be vigilant about sign stealing.
Brian Rich/Sun-Times fileThe iconic lion statues wear face masks outside the The Art Institute of Chicago last May, one day ahead of a statewide mandate requiring masks in public places.
Chicago Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady on Tuesday said the city will launch a COVID-19 vaccination passport program next month for admission to select concerts geared toward young people, in another effort to “incentivize” residents to get their shots.
For now, the city is working with club organizers on setting up shows and other events with “a youth flavor,” Arwady said, but the “Vax Pass” concept could end up applying to other venues, too.
“As we build vaccine confidence and convenience, we’re interested in thinking about ways to incentivize people to get the vaccine,” Arwady said. “I would hope that for most people their main incentive is to be able to stay healthy, keep their families healthy, keep their communities healthy — but we also know, younger people in particular may be excited about the idea of getting into events, for example, that might be limited to people who are vaccinated.”
Arwady stressed, “We are never going to require vaccination for all Chicago residents. That will never be a requirement, but I think increasingly, where people are wanting to do things and lower their risk, vaccination is going to be your ticket to doing some of that.”
4:36 p.m. ‘Preferred seating’ at events like Lollapalooza could be used as vaccination incentive, mayor says
Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Wednesday said the proposal to create a coronavirus vaccine passport for Chicago events is “very much a work in progress” but that preferred seating at those events could be one way to urge vaccination.
The concept is to use the “Vax Pass” as a carrot, instead of a stick, to bolster vaccination rates among young people most likely to attend outdoor music events like Lollapalooza and Riot Fest.
“We’re gonna be looking at ways in which we can incentivize people to get vaccinated and do that by looking at preferred seating. Preferred admission,” she said.
Chicago Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady on Tuesday had said the city will launch the vaccination passport program next month, but stopped short of saying large summer events such as Lollapalooza are officially back on.
Lightfoot discussed the program Wednesday at an unrelated event in Bronzeville, where she also sounded the alarm once again about the need to get vaccinated.
Vaccine “uptake among Black Chicagoans still lags behind every other demographic,” the mayor said, and that needs to change, particularly among African-Americans between the ages of 18 and 44.
“We need you to get vaccinated. Do it, of course, for yourself, but [also] for your family, for your grandparents. When you get vaccinated , it’s gonna be an easier return to a different life. I won’t say a normal old life because I don’t think that’s ever coming back. But I think the opportunities for opening up the city increase with the number of people who get vaccinated,” the mayor said.
1:50 p.m. Pritzker considering vaccine requirement for students returning to state universities
Students returning to public universities in Illinois might need to receive their COVID-19 vaccination before they’re allowed to return to campuses this fall, but it’s up to them — for now.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s health team has already deployed mobile vaccination units to many state schools to encourage inoculations, but he didn’t rule out a statewide mandate Wednesday as vaccine demand starts to wane across Illinois.
“We want everybody to get vaccinated, there’s no doubt. As to whether we would require people to get vaccinated in order to come back on campus, that’s something that’s under some discussion around the nation,” Pritzker said during an unrelated news conference at Heartland Community College in downstate Normal.
Some private universities have already announced vaccine requirements, including three in Chicago: Columbia College, DePaul University and Loyola University Chicago. The public university system in Massachusetts announced a mandate earlier this week.
10:45 a.m. Expected COVID baby boom may be baby bust: analysis
NEW YORK — When most of the U.S. went into lockdown over a year ago, some speculated that confining couples to their homes — with little to entertain them beyond Netflix — would lead to a lot of baby-making. But the statistics suggest the opposite happened.
Births have fallen dramatically in many states during the coronavirus outbreak, according to an Associated Press analysis of preliminary data from half the country.
The COVID-19 baby boom appears to be a baby bust.
Nationally, even before the epidemic, the number of babies born in the U.S. was falling, dropping by less than 1% a year over the past decade as many women postponed motherhood and had smaller families.
But data from 25 states suggests a much steeper decline in 2020 and into 2021, as the virus upended society and killed over a half-million Americans.
Births for all of 2020 were down 4.3% from 2019, the data indicates. More tellingly, births in December 2020 and in January and February 2021 — nine months or more after the spring 2020 lockdowns — were down 6.5%, 9.3% and 10% respectively, compared with the same months a year earlier.
December, January and February together had about 41,000 fewer births than the same three-month span a year earlier. That’s an 8% decline.
“When there’s a crisis, I don’t think people are thinking about reproduction,” said Dr. John Santelli, a Columbia University professor of population and family health who reviewed the AP’s analysis.
8:15 a.m. Closed by COVID-19, hotel overlooking riverwalk sends ‘message of hope’ through window designs
Driving North on Michigan Avenue, the image became clearer near Wacker Drive.
Yup. That definitely looks like a tulip on the south exterior of the Sheraton Grand Chicago hotel. And that must be a sun with a spray of sunrays in the left corner.
If you’ve driven through downtown this past year, you’ve likely seen other images: a heart at the peak of the pandemic; a gingerbread man at Christmas; a martini glass at New Year’s.
Or maybe the nods to Chicago institutions: a Cubs “W,” the “LU,” when Loyola University progressed in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen.
“I’ll send an idea to the general manager and say, ‘What do you think?’ Then armed with a map of the building, the targeted windows and the room numbers, we unleash our fantastic engineering team,” said Sheraton’s chief engineer, Mike Dukelow.
7 a.m. CDC says many Americans can now go outside without mask
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased its guidelines Tuesday on the wearing of masks outdoors, saying fully vaccinated Americans don’t need to cover their faces anymore unless they are in a big crowd of strangers.
And those who are unvaccinated can go outside without masks in some cases, too.
The new guidance represents another carefully calibrated step on the road back to normal from the coronavirus outbreak that has killed over 570,000 people in U.S.
For most of the past year, the CDC had been advising Americans to wear masks outdoors if they are within 6 feet of each other.
The change comes as more than half of U.S. adults have gotten at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine, and more than a third have been fully vaccinated.
More people need to be vaccinated, and concerns persist about variants and other possible shifts in the epidemic. But Saag said the new guidance is a sensible reward following the development and distribution of effective vaccines and about 140 million Americans stepping forward to get their shots.
Family of Ahmaud Arbery embrace at the Glynn County Courthouse during a protest of the shooting death of Arbery on May 8, 2020 in Brunswick, Georgia. | Getty
The criminal case charging the three men in connection with the death Arbery is the most significant civil rights prosecution undertaken to date by the Biden administration Justice Department.
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department brought federal hate crimes charges Wednesday in the death of Ahmaud Arbery, charging a father and son who armed themselves, chased and fatally shot the 25-year-old Black man after spotting him running in their Georgia neighborhood.
Travis McMichael and his father, Gregory, were charged along with a third man, William “Roddie” Bryan, with one count of interference with civil rights and attempted kidnapping. The McMichaels are also charged with using, carrying and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence.
The case is the most significant civil rights prosecution undertaken to date by the Biden administration Justice Department and comes as federal officials have moved quickly to open sweeping investigations into troubled police departments as civil rights takes center stage among the department’s priorities.
The indictment charges that the McMichaels “armed themselves with firearms, got into a truck and chased Arbery through the public streets of the neighborhood while yelling at Arbery, using their truck to cut off his route and threatening him with firearms.” It also alleges that Bryan got into a truck and then chased Arbery, using the vehicle to block his path.
Arbery, 25, was killed on Feb. 23, 2020, by three close-range shotgun blasts after the McMichaels pursued him in a pickup truck as he was running through their neighborhood. Arbery had been dead for more than two months when a cellphone video of the shooting was leaked online and a national outcry erupted.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case the next day and swiftly arrested Travis McMichael, who fired the shots, his father, and Bryan, a neighbor who joined the pursuit and took the video. The three men remain jailed on state murder charges and are due back in court in May.
The McMichaels’ lawyers have said they pursued Arbery, suspecting he was a burglar, after security cameras had previously recorded him entering a home under construction. They say Travis McMichael shot Arbery while fearing for his life as they grappled over a shotgun.
Local prosecutors have said Arbery stole nothing and was merely out jogging when the McMichaels and Bryan chased him.
The Justice Department alleges that the men “used force and threats of force to intimidate and interfere with Arbery’s right to use a public street because of his race.”
At the time Arbery was killed, Georgia was one of just four U.S. states without a hate crimes law. Amid the outcry over his death, Georgia lawmakers quickly passed a law allowing for an additional penalty for certain crimes found to be motivated by a victim’s race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender, or mental or physical disability.
The men charged with murdering Arbery won’t face hate crime penalties at the state level because the law was changed after the killing.
Attorneys for Travis McMichael said they were disappointed “that the Justice Department bought the false narrative that the media and state prosecutors have promulgated.”
“There is absolutely nothing in the indictment that identifies how this is a federal hate crime and it ignores without apology that Georgia law allows a citizen to detain a person who was committing burglaries until police arrive,” attorneys Bob Rubin and Jason Sheffield said.
Gregory McMichael’s attorneys, Frank and Laura Hogue, did not immediately respond Wednesday to an email seeking comment and Bryan’s attorney, Kevin Gough, said he had no immediate comment because he had not read the federal indictment.
___
Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia. Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.
The ChicagoBears may have seen a path into the top 10 of the 2021 NFL Draft open for them on Wednesday as the Denver Broncos acquired veteran quarterback Teddy Bridgewater from the Carolina Panthers. After the Panther acquired Sam Darnold from the New York Jets earlier this off-season, it seemed inevitable that Bridgewater would […]
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This afternoon brings a chance of showers with a high near 50 degrees. Tonight will be cloudy with a low around 46. Tomorrow there’s a chance for more rain, mainly before 2 p.m., with a high near 61.
Video released this morning shows a Chicago police officer fatally shoot Anthony Alvarez as he ran from police with a gun in his hand in the Portage Park neighborhood.
A Chicago police officer yells “Drop the gun! Drop the gun!” before firing five shots from close range, according to the police bodycam video released by the city’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which investigates police shootings.
Anthony Alvarez, 22, collapses onto the front sidewalk of a home on the 5200 block of West Eddy Street in the early-morning hours of March 31.
A gun can be seen in Alvarez’s right hand in the footage captured by the body camera of the officer who pulled the trigger.
A camera mounted to the home feet from where Alvarez collapsed shows a gun fall from his hand as he fell to the pavement.
“Why you shooting me?” Alvarez asks the officer.
“You had a gun,” said the officer, who then tells his partner to place handcuffs on Alvarez.
“No, I’m going to render aid,” his partner says before applying a tourniquet and administering chest compressions.
The video doesn’t show Alvarez pointing a gun at the officers in pursuit.
Alvarez was wounded twice, once in the right side of his back with an exit wound in the upper right chest, and once in his right thigh, according to a police document released Wednesday. Alvarez was pronounced dead at Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
Along with flowers, baby bison are in season at Fermilab in Batavia as the national physics lab welcomed its first bison calf of the year earlier this week.
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, or Fermilab, was established in 1967 as a United States Department of Energy national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle physics. Fermilab’s first director, Robert Wilson, established the herd in 1969.
The calf was born on Monday morning, according to a statement from Fermilab. The lab says it’s expecting 16 to 18 calves to be born this spring.
The first bison calf of the year was born Monday morning at Fermilab in Batavia, Ill.Ryan Postel/Fermilab
The herd currently has 32 bison with 30 females and two males that are switched out periodically to promote the herd’s health and genetic diversity. Through genetic testing, the lab says it’s confirmed the herd shows no evidence of cattle gene mixing.
Bison nearly went extinct in the 19th century, but thanks to conservation efforts, that’s no longer the case. Still, conserving the bison genome is still a federally recognized priority, the statement said.
The lab is currently closed to the public, but those who’d like to view photos or read more about the bison herd can visit Fermilab’s website.
Just a day before the 2021 NFL Draft, Rick Morrissey has a message for Bears fans: If you want GM Ryan Pace gone sooner than later, you should hope that he doesn’t draft a quarterback in the first round this year. Trading up to land one of the big-name QBs, which may be the plan, would likely buy Pace at least another year or two in Chicago, Morrissey writes.
Not only did the Blackhawks lose Adam Boqvist for the remainder of the season to a wrist injury, but their loss against the Lightning last night effectively put their postseason odds close to zero. Since March 6, the Hawks have won just nine of 24 games.
Your daily question ?
How do you feel about Chicago’s planned “Vax Pass” system to limit admission to select concerts based on vaccination status?
Email us (please include your first name and where you live) and we might include your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.
Yesterday, we asked you:If you know someone who’s graduating this spring amid the pandemic, how are you planning to celebrate? Here’s what some of you said…
“My daughter is graduating from high school and we will have an outdoors graduation. Limited tickets but we’ll still celebrate afterwards outdoors as a family!” — Estell Clark
“This momma is watching two graduate from college via zoom. I’ll be popping a bottle of champagne for each. They are both so amazing and I’m so proud of their accomplishments.” — Melody Felton
“Pool party for her and her friends. Not spending money at any restaurant this year.” — Carl Loewes
“Catholic School got approval from Arch this week for graduation. Ceremony will be smaller. Masks required. Our party afterwards will be in backyard. Most of the family is vaccinated.” — Pam Coz
Thanks for reading the Chicago Afternoon Edition. Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.
An alleged gunman and his getaway driver in a deadly Albany Park drive-by were ordered held without bail Wednesday.
Prezila Apreza, 20, slowed the silver Chevrolet Trailblazer she was driving on Sept. 16 so that Maverick Cela could shoot his weapon from the back seat at Samuel Lique, Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Kevin DeBoni said.
Lique was struck by the bullets as he stood on the sidewalk in front of a Metro PCS store, at 3627 W. Lawrence St.
“I got him,” Cela, 19, said after shooting at least nine 9-mm rounds at Lique, DeBoni said.
Paramedics who treated Lique saw that he was armed with a 0.380-caliber handgun, but it was later determined that the weapon had not been fired, DeBoni said.
Lique, 20, was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
The shooting, which was captured by a Chicago police POD camera, took place during a spike in gun violence in Albany Park. It was the neighborhood’s third shooting within several days, and came less than 24 hours after five people were wounded in shooting a block away.
The Trailblazer used in Lique’s murder was found by police in Skokie that night for its alleged use in a credit card case. The license plates on the SUV were registered to Apreza, but they did not match the ones captured on surveillance footage of the shooting, DeBoni said.
Prezila AprezaChicago police
Apreza and Cela discussed the shooting on social media with each other and others for the next several days, DeBoni said. In one conversation, Cela mentioned to someone that there would be no shell casings inside the Trailblazer, but that his fingerprints might be inside, DeBoni said.
Cela also allegedly assured Apreza that police were looking for another person in connection to the murder. He also told her he could show her how to delete data from her cellphone, DeBoni said.
After Apreza and Cela were arrested Monday, Apreza admitted to changing the Trailblazer’s license plates before and after Lique’s shooting, DeBoni said. Apreza also allegedly told investigators she had driven Cela to the scene of the crime.
A witness who was in the Trailblazer’s front passenger seat at the time of the shooting also identified Apreza as the driver and Cela as the gunman, DeBoni said.
There was no evidence Apreza knew the shooting would take place, an assistant public defender said. She also had no motive for participating in the murder, the defense attorney added.
Cela lives with his mother in the city, another assistant public defender told Judge David Navarro.
Apreza and Cela are expected back in court May 18.
Unless the Bears have some preposterous backroom deal with general manager Ryan Pace in which they’re giving him multiple years to turn the team around, this will be the most high-stakes draft of his career.
The low bar for Pace to save his job is probably 10 wins and the playoffs, and if he wants any shot of clearing it, he needs three instant starters with his first three picks — Nos. 20, 52 and 83 — and a Darnell Mooney-like gem among his fifth-round pick and four sixth-rounders.
That’s what Pace needs, regardless of whether he was willing to admit it in a pre-draft press conference that began with a preemptive apology for avoiding answering any questions.
“For us, the draft’s just about collecting talented players, not just focusing on a need right now,” he said. “That can get you in trouble.”
He’s right that need-based drafting is how teams sometimes miss out on generational talents, but the Bears made it clear by keeping Pace and coach Matt Nagy that they’re focused solely on this season. And far as this season is concerned, the Bears need a starting offensive tackle, cornerback and wide receiver.
That’s an extremely difficult target for Pace or any other GM to hit, but it’s a predicament of his own making. The Bears went into this offseason knowing it’d take a miracle to make them a contender, and that miracle is staying in Seattle. Pace’s next-best moonshot is a perfect draft.
This team went 16-16 the last two seasons, has shaky depth and had more negatives than positives in free agency. Pace has no more margin of error to absorb a Mitch Trubisky, Adam Shaheen or Kevin White.
The ideal approach is to fill needs by the end of free agency, allowing the luxury of drafting the best available player regardless of position. But the Bears were out of money — at present, they don’t even have enough salary-cap space to sign their draft picks — and nothing about their plan has been ideal.
That’s especially true at quarterback, where they’ve got 33-year-old journeyman Andy Dalton, 32-year-old journeyman Nick Foles and … Oops. That’s all.
It is excruciatingly fitting that in a dream draft where the consensus is that there are five potential franchise quarterbacks — Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson, Trey Lance, Mac Jones and Justin Fields — the Bears appear to be well out of reach of any of them at No. 20. It is the curse of the perpetually mediocre.
The first three teams in the draft — the Jaguars, Jets and 49ers — are virtually committed to drafting a quarterback. So even if the Bears trade up, which is not advisable, they’ll be doing so for no better than the fourth choice of those five. And given that the 49ers had to give the Dolphins two future first-round picks and a third to move up from 12th to third, the Bears can’t afford to make the necessary jump.
The cost of trading future picks is never felt in the moment. Quite the opposite, in fact. Who fretted about those distant first-rounders when Pace used them to trade for megastar Khalil Mack? Nobody.
It doesn’t even hurt that much when the team arrives at the draft itself and has to wait until No. 73 to make a pick as the Bears did in 2019 or at No. 47 last year. The true pain comes two or three years later, when linebacker Roquan Smith is the only first-round investment maturing into his prime. It’s imperative to continuously replenish.
The organization can’t keep doing that to itself — not for the mere privilege of having fourth or fifth choice among quarterbacks and not with the possibility of a comprehensive rebuild looming in 2022.
Instead, while it wouldn’t be as thrilling as a new quarterback, picking up an offensive tackle such as Virginia Tech’s Christian Darrisaw or Oklahoma State’s Teven Jenkins would be prudent Thursday. That immediately plugs the biggest leak in a Bears’ offense that currently has Charles Leno at left tackle and Germain Ifedi at right.
If no offensive tackle of that caliber is available at No. 20, the Bears could trade down, add an extra pick to replace the fourth-rounder Pace traded for Foles, and add a multidimensional playmaker like Florida wide receiver Kadarius Toney.
There is no foolproof plan for the draft, but the simplest approach is best for the Bears this year: Fill needs.
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