We are delighted to end 2008 - a year of violence, bullets and deaths in our neighborhood - with some good news from News-Star's Cityside column:
Wrong place, wrong time: News-Star likes to think that you can walk around your neighborhood in the middle of the day without worrying about getting shot, especially on Christmas Day. Sadly, those of us who have lived in certain areas along the Far North lakefront know this not to be true.
A 23-year-old woman who is new to Uptown was shot around 12:20 p.m. Christmas Day near the corner of Wilson and Broadway. Her friends have started a fund to help her with expenses for the next month as she recuperates.
A friend and co-worker of the victim told News-Star that her friend was crossing the street on the 4500 block of N. Broadway when she heard another woman yell at a group of young teens that she was going to call the police. The next thing the victim heard was gunfire behind her. As she dove for cover, she felt a bullet enter her back on the right side. She does not know who shot her, but was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time when she found herself caught in the crossfire.
The new coat that the victim had saved for over month to buy was ruined. Within hours of posting on the neighborhood blog Uptown Update, big-hearted Uptown residents donated $90.
"She just moved to Chicago from Arkansas so she had no winter clothes," the victim's friend and co-worker said. "She might be out of work for a month so we're going to try to help her raise money for her rent."
Thankfully, the victim is going to be OK and is expected to be released from an area hospital later this week. The bullet, which grazed her liver, is still inside her. Doctors expect her liver to repair itself.
Friends describe the victim as "beautiful inside and out." She is a full-time student working her way through college. They say their friend is traumatized and doesn't feel safe in her own neighborhood anymore.
For more information about the fund that has been set up to help a deserving young woman, please e-mail jenpagonis.
The frightening thing is that we all 'can be in the right place at the wrong time'
ReplyDeleteThat's the sad fact of the Uptown triangle....broadway/sheridan/wilson.
I'll do whatever I can do to help.
If many of us commit to giving her just a little money, it would help her pay rent for the time she's been out of work. She is rightfully scared, but we can turn this around to at least let her know that her neighbors care.
ReplyDeleteMany of us already give to many causes and charities. It's worth it to give just a little more.
I'm glad she is going to be okay. I have been here 12 years and I am always aware that I live in a war zone. It's not a comfortable feeling. I have never been nervous walking anywhere after dark till I moved to Uptown and I am 6'1", 180 lbs. Anyone can take a bullet regardless of your size. My friends are still freaking out about the dead woman found in the sewer at Clarendon Park.
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand it's great that not only is she recovering, she's getting donations.
ReplyDeleteOn the other, I'm pretty sure another decent resident of Uptown may be leaving...sad
Perhaps one of the local pubs could host a fundraiser for her. Similar to what has been done to raise money for other causes.
ReplyDeletePerhaps we can auction off Helen Shiller.
great idea, Irish. It could be one of those "Date with a star" auctions. Who wouldn't want a close and intimate eve with the beast? That goossamer hair with the faint aroma of her latest pack of Kools. My imagination is racing. Move over pizza boy!!
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