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Alderman's Aide After Gun Violence Claims Son: 'It Broke My Heart'

By Benjamin Woodard | July 15, 2013 10:01am | Updated on July 15, 2013 10:07am
 Elliot Frazier, 26, was killed July 5. He is shown with his 6-year-old son.
Elliot Frazier, 26, was killed July 5. He is shown with his 6-year-old son.
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ROGERS PARK — An aide to Ald. Joe Moore (49th) says he is heartbroken after his 26-year-old son was shot and killed a day after a family Fourth of July barbecue.

Elliot Frazier was shot once in the chest about 5 a.m. on July 5 in the 7400 block of North Paulina Street.

"I get choked up thinking about it — losing a son," said father Wayne Frazier, 56, who has worked for Moore since 2003. "It broke my heart."

His son's homicide was the first this year in Rogers Park. But the neighborhood is on edge after another shooting death at Willye B. White Park Sunday night, nine days later.

Rogers Park CeaseFire plans to hold an anti-violence rally 4 p.m. Monday at the park.

Frazier said he last saw his son, who has lived with him off and on, at the family barbecue a day before his death.

Police said Elliot Frazier was found dead near the Jarvis "L" station on a quiet residential street, with a gunshot wound in the chest, and evidence of blunt-force trauma to the head.

Rogers Park Police Cmdr. Thomas Waldera said the victim "may have been dragged by a car." 

Although details surrounding the homicide were scarce, and no cameras recorded the incident, Waldera said there was "some indication" that the incident was gang-related.

"Detectives are investigating," Waldera said.

The young Frazier had served jail time — about a year and a half — for theft and drug-dealing, his father said.

"I always provided a loving and nourishing environment for all my kids," he said. "As a single parent, it's rough and hard to raise kids."

Elliot Frazier left behind a 6-year-old son. The victim had shared custody of the boy with the child's mother.

The aldermanic aide said he had always tried to keep his son busy, but that the lure of the streets may have been too strong.

"As a parent, you give them all your love and try to give them an alternative life to the streets," said Frazier.

He said his son never graduated from Sullivan High School, but had plans after getting out of jail two years ago to get his GED. Then he wanted to take culinary classes, he said.

He loved to barbecue.

"Certainly, it’s one thing when you read about a shooting death in a newspaper," said the alderman. "When it happens to the son of a co-worker and a friend, it really hits home how complex and tragic this problem is."

Moore hired the senior Frazier in 2003 shortly after Frazier's wife, Juanita Foster-Frazier, died of lupus.

Frazier said his wife's death in October 2002 and the death of his son's biological mother later in 2005 — who was stabbed to death in a domestic violence incident — was hard on him.

Yet Elliot Frazier loved spending time with his 6-year-old, and loved to tell jokes and make people laugh, his father said.

"He enjoyed hugging," Frazier remembered, smiling fondly. "The family loved him."

His daughter went to police district headquarters July 5 when word began circulating that her brother had been killed. Police confirmed the rumor.

"It's devastating. It's not the order of life," Frazier said. "It just ripped a hole in my heart. I love him."

Frazier buried his son Friday, and he now says he prays for the family "of the person that did this."

"Of course when he gets caught, he will have to face the circumstances and take responsibility," he said. "But that's another family that's gonna be torn apart. I'm also praying for that family."