Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Neighbors Take to Streets After 'Too Much' Violence in Rogers Park

By Benjamin Woodard | September 29, 2014 10:13pm
 Residents took to the streets Monday night to stand up against recent street violence.
Peace Walk
View Full Caption

ROGERS PARK — Residents took to the streets Monday night north of Howard Street to stand up to recent gun violence in the neighborhood.

"We'll walk and talk and get to know each other," said Toni Duncan, the Chicago Police CAPS beat facilitator for the area, before the group set out.

Three dozen people, including Ald. Joe Moore (49th) and a few Chicago police officers, walked from Willye B. White field house to Sheridan Road, then north to West Jonquil Terrace, and then back to Marshfield Avenue near the field house. Three dogs also came on the walk.

Rogers Park Police District Cmdr. Thomas Waldera joined the group near the end of the walk.

Eva Qualo, 77, has lived in Rogers Park since 1972. She said the recent violence had caused her to come out Monday.

"Too much [violence] has been happening in Chicago," she said. "It's too much, it's too much."

Ben Woodard says the neighbors hoped to be a show of force against recent violence:

The walk, often referred to as "positive loitering," comes after several daytime shootings in the neighborhood.

On Sept. 11, Glenford Johnson, 19, was shot dead on Juneway Terrace in and area north of Howard. On Thursday, near Morse Avenue, about a dozen shots rang out and a man was struck in the hand, police said.

Residents met last week for the Howard area's CAPS beat meeting where Waldera attributed some of the violence to the neighborhood's warring gangs, who he says are less interested in turf than in hating each other.

Bernard Garbo, the CAPS facilitator for beat 2424, said he had held similar walks in the past eight years. He said for the walks to be successful they need to be frequent.

For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here: