150 in Elgin meet on Halloween violence
More than 150 Elgin residents and community leaders gathered Thursday night in response to gang violence over Halloween that left a 16-year-old dead and a 20-year-old critically injured.
Councilman Robert Gilliam said the city has worked hard to fight gangs, be proactive and improve how others perceive Elgin.
"One incident, one shooting sets us back 10 years," he said.
At about 1:20 a.m. Oct. 31, police responded to a woman who had been shot multiple times about a block from the police station. And in the early-morning hours of Nov. 1, rival gangbangers exchanged words and gunfire at a house party, killing 16-year-old Jaime Benitez.
The NorthEast Neighbors Association, or NENA, provided several suggestions on how to fight gangs and improve the neighborhood.
They included: more streetlights; more after-school programs for kids; charging landlords an extra fee to pay for police video cameras in gang hot spots; more deconversions of multiple apartment units back to single-family homes; and revoking the liquor license of the Price Right Gas Station at Kimball and Spring streets, where residents said homeless people and gangbangers hang out.
"We hope these can be a starting point for discussion," said NENA Vice President Anna Moeller.
City officials said they no longer grant liquor licenses for gas stations, but the Price Right is grandfathered in.
Police Chief Lisa Womack and other gang officers said the department works on gang suppression, but prevention and intervention are the keys to stopping violence.
Detectives couldn't release many details about the Halloween violence, but said residents may call an anonymous tip line at (847) 695-4195 or the gang unit at (847) 289-2602 in the future.
Mayor Ed Schock, who lives four blocks from the murder site, said that overall progress has been made fighting gangs. "It's just one of those events you hate to hear of and hate to have happen," he said, noting "gang crime and gang activity is down."
The Nov. 1 slaying marked the city's second homicide this year. Last year, Elgin had two murders and three in 2006.
"No rate is acceptable, (but) that is a very low rate for a city of 110,000 people," Schock said.