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Constable: Police raid leaves Antioch woman homeless

Everyone involved realizes that the tense afternoon of July 13 in a normally tranquil Antioch neighborhood could have ended much worse.

A morning argument escalated by noon, when a woman told Antioch police her boyfriend had hit her, held a gun to the back of her head and threatened to shoot her and her dog. More than five hours later, a heavily armed police SWAT team fired canisters of noxious gas through windows and arrested 37-year-old Jacobi Marotta with no shots fired and no injuries reported.

That's when the nightmare began for 72-year-old Drue Syria, who says the police raid left her homeless and sleeping in her car with her three dogs on some nights.

“I only had my underwear on and my robe,” Syria says, recounting how police safely walked her away from her townhouse that day while Marotta was camped out in the upstairs bedroom he had been renting from Syria for less than a month. “There I was with nothing. No shoes. Nothing. I didn't have my cellphone.”

A relative paid for a hotel room that night for Syria. A teenage neighbor looked after Syria's dogs — the two rescued by police at the end of the ordeal and her little Yorkie found listless in her gas-filled home later that night. Other neighbors stepped up to help Syria, who says she left all her clothes and even her makeup because they were tainted by the police gas.

“I gave her some underwear, clothes, shampoo, a few tops. My husband gave her some money. That's all we could do,” says neighbor Carol Kremsreiter, a longtime resident of the neighborhood who watched the police action from her kitchen window until police shot the gas canisters, breaking Syria's windows. “It scared the living bejesus out of me. It was horrible.”

Syria says the situation remains horrible a month later. A window shade sports a hole made by a gas canister that also left marks on her wall and ceiling.

The gray-haired woman steps over broken glass and piles of clothes and other possessions littering the floor in her second-story bedroom, across the hall from the one where Marotta kept police at bay.

“I should really be using a cane, but I'm not that old,” she says as she shuffles about.

Having left her job at a Sears store more than a year ago because of health issues, Syria says her homeowners insurance recently dropped her after another claim.

Overwhelmed by the scope of the devastation and physically limited, she hasn't even cleared away food left out since the day of the barricade. Flies abound despite the plywood covering her broken windows. A firm specializing in disaster cleanups gave Syria an estimate of $26,465.38 to remove all traces of gas and clean, disinfect and deodorize her place.

“My house is ruined,” Syria says. “I've got a lot of pride. This is embarrassing. Can't somebody help me?”

It's not that simple.

“It's unfortunate that there isn't a safety net to help people like Drue after an experience like this,” says Antioch Village Administrator Jim Keim. He says the village can't pay to restore private property damaged as the result of police responding to the criminal activity of a man who was living there.

“It's unfortunate for the neighbors as well. She has a house. It needs to be repaired,” Keim says. “Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be a remedy.”

Syria, and some of her neighbors, say the police overreacted.

“Did they really have to do all my windows? Wouldn't one have been enough?” Syria says.

“I believe our response was fully appropriate,” says Keim, who notes that Antioch officers were joined by a special team of officers from more than a dozen police departments belonging to the Northern Illinois Police Alarm System, created to handle tense situations. Marotta, in Lake County jail on a $500,000 bail, is scheduled to appear in court Thursday on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon (rifle), aggravated battery and domestic battery. Syria says Marotta, whose criminal history includes prison sentences for theft, forgery, burglary and drug possession, had been nice to her and that she had no way of anticipating the barricade situation.

“I'm a very loving, caring person. People take advantage of me because I have a kind heart,” says Syria, who grew up in Highland Park, where she was a member of the Junior Women's Club and attended Northwestern University.

She says her adult children have offered some help, but she doesn't want to be a burden to them. Her situation is compounded because she refuses to accept housing that won't let her keep her rescued Yorkie named Violet; Precious Rose, her Pomeranian; and Tulip, her Chihuahua.

Syria is such a devoted pet owner that she bought car seats for the dogs, her teenage neighbor said, noting that Syria has been nice to everyone in the neighborhood.

There has been talk, but no action, on plans to raise money through a gofundme.com account or find cleanup help from a charity. Without a renter, Syria says she can't pay her mortgage.

“I've been on the phone, as you can see,” Syria says, paging through a small notebook packed with names and phone numbers of officials from the village, her former insurance company, lawyers and social agencies.

“She came in a couple of times, and we got her some food,” says Paul Howard, director of senior services at the Antioch Senior Center. He also gave Syria information about charities.

If the situation continues to deteriorate, the village might need to step in as a matter of public health and safety, says Keim, who says he hopes publicity inspires help.

“It's a topic of conversation here. We are aware of Drue's condition, and nobody here likes it,” Keim says.

“Maybe someone will come forward that can fill the gap.”

Cops: Antioch standoff comes to a peaceful end

  This hole in a window blind in Drue Syria's Antioch townhouse was caused when police fired gas canisters to end a tense five-hour standoff with a man who had rented a bedroom from Syria. The 72-year-old woman says the raid left her home uninhabitable and that she can't find the help she needs. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
  Her windows broken by gas canisters shot by police SWAT teams to end a tense standoff last month in Antioch, Drue Syria says the arrest of her renter and the damage caused that day left her home uninhabitable. She says she spends some nights with her three dogs in her car. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
  Residue from a gas canister stains the walls in Drue Syria's Antioch townhouse. Police fired several gas canisters through the windows before arresting her renter on assault, battery and a weapons charge. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
  A month after the standoff between police and her tenant, homeowner Drue Syria says she doesn't have the resources to make her Antioch home livable again. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
Neighbors in this Antioch neighborhood were told to stay inside their homes during a five-hour standoff that involved a police SWAT team and dozens of officers. Now they wonder who will repair the townhouse that was damaged. Courtesy of Kremsreiter family
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