Police not sure if crimes are racially motivated

A Lombard family wonders if they were targeted by vandals because of their race.

Since moving her family from Bellwood to Lombard two years ago, Theresa Johnson said she's kept a low profile within her apartment complex.

Johnson and her teenage sons, ages 19 and 13, are among a few black families in the building.

After coming home from work on Sept. 11, Johnson said that when she sent her oldest son out to the video store that evening he discovered a racial slur written on their door in black marker.

Johnson reported that to Lombard police.

"I was appalled. I was angry. I figured it was kids," Johnson said. "But when my house was broken into and someone poured bleach all over everything, I think it might be related."

The latter incident occurred Sept. 17.

In the break-in, thieves took rings, a DVD player, her eldest son's pants and a PlayStation 3 used mainly by her youngest son, who has cerebral palsy. Bleach was poured on their walls, furniture and the carpet.

Johnson said when she asked Lombard police if these incidents might be viewed as hate crimes, police told her that hate crimes rarely, if ever, happen in the village.

Though a slur was written on Johnson's door days before the burglary, Lombard Police Sgt. Roy Newton said, "when it is a hate crime, it doesn't include stealing."

Johnson said she had no reason to doubt police until she learned Tuesday that racial slurs had been spray-painted on a home of another black family in Lombard who live less than a mile away.

On Monday morning, Kyna Cousins awoke to a neighbor knocking on her door to let her know racial epithets had been sprayed on her garage.

"I was very surprised to see that story," Johnson said. "It makes me wonder how many times this happens and no one says anything.

"I took the police officer's word that this thing is rare when it happened to me. Maybe it's not related. But to see it again," she said, "I just thought it is such a coincidence."

Like the Johnsons, the Cousins family had recently moved to Lombard, from Rockford.

At first, Flora Cousins said, life was peaceful in the neighborhood. Then strange things began happening.

First, the family received an anonymous letter complaining about maintaining their lawn.

Then, last week, Cousins said, two dead squirrels were found at the door where she and her daughter, Kyna, live.

"If it was one, maybe his time ended right then. But two? It's two of us," Flora Cousins said. "We were like, 'What's next?' Then came the spray paint. So what's next, a noose?"

Authorities doubt the incident involving the two families are related. Both remain under investigation.

In the case of Johnson burglary, Deputy Chief Dane Cuny said, whether it's viewed as a racial incident doesn't change the department's approach.

"A residential burglary is a Class 1 felony. It's a much higher penalty than a hate crime," he said. "This is a crime. It doesn't impact what we're doing, given the serious nature of the crime. We don't believe the crime was motivated by race."