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| image from GoFundMe |
A few hours after Ms. Aldridge was shot and killed, a terrible and similar scenario took place on the 900 block of Wilson. The 55-year-old man who was murdered Friday by an errant bullet, like Ms. Aldridge, didn't have anything to do with gangs. He was shot and killed because someone decided it was appropriate behavior to open fire on a busy street. We don't know the shooter's motivation. Maybe someone gave him a nasty look. Maybe someone said something mean about him on social media.
Robert "Bobby" Kraft didn't have celebrity relatives. According to his former wife, who now lives in Florida, he didn't have "any relatives to speak of." Annie Kraft didn't want to see his body go unclaimed, so she opened a GoFundMe page to raise money so that her ex-husband could have a service, a cremation, and a small stone to be remembered. CWB Chicago has reprinted her statement.
When Uptown Update's Facebook page ran a link to Annie's GoFundMe page Sunday afternoon, it had raised about $1200 of the then-$5000 goal. As of 2:30pm on Monday, $4570 has been raised.
This doesn't surprise us. For all our differences, Uptowners are a generous and compassionate lot. We want to help. Nearly 100 people so far have given what they can to help bury a man most of them didn't know.
Bobby Kraft will have a decent burial, thanks to Annie Kraft and kind-hearted donors, past and future.
But it's a comment on our blog that deserves attention. Burying an innocent victim of street savagery shouldn't be the end goal. Annie Kraft's fiance writes from Florida:
We are the ones who received the call from CPD, informing us of his murder. We ask that anybody that sees this "black man in red hoodie," who apparently, "is always walking around [the] area," to immediately call the authorities! Nobody is going to know who "dimed" him out! This punk needs to be brought to justice, and must pay for what he has done! The longer he, and his other gangbanger, dirtbag friends remain at large, who knows how many more innocent, peaceful citizens, will be gunned down?If you can help the police solve this murder, please do. If you are afraid of retribution, use the TXT2TIP program to anonymously report what you know.
The Mayor, never had any balls! Those of us who do, would, and should, help put a stop to this crap NOW!
Please help Chicago stop the cycle of murders! It's never too late!!!
We can, and are helping to, bury Bobby Kraft, an innocent victim of street violence. But someone out there, maybe multiple someones, know who murdered him. If you have information, please help identify his killer before someone else is murdered. Remember, this is the second innocent bystander who has died this month in Uptown due to men who don't mind if they kill the wrong person.
And the beat went on. Two people were shot on the North Side over the weekend, a woman riding in a car in West Ridge on Friday night, and a man on Sunday evening who was parking his car in West Rogers Park.
The link to Bobby's GoFundMe is here. The link to TXT2TIP is here.
So sad. Innocent people who have no gang ties, who are not thugs, are being shot&killed because the shooters don't shoot straight. You can't do a drive-by and think someone nearby won't get shot. Insane.
ReplyDeleteThis is a sad tragedy, but won't be the last. It will be interesting to see how many times has the shooter been arrested? How many times has the bleeding liberal judges allowed for this POS to walk free? How many times has the great men and women of CPD had contact and only to have the mayor, alderman and POTUS to tell them they are wrong?
ReplyDeleteWhen the City allows CPD to handle crime and not baby to Dwayne Wade and other people who have no clue. This stuff will stop, until then people will be running for the border
Update: I'd like to thank everyone that helped Bobby that day. While I'm his ex wife we were extremely good friends. It still numbs me to the core. Bobby was an innocent victim of Chicago's street violence. We have finally gotten his body released from the CCM and will proceed with a small memorial. We plan on giving him his final resting place here with us in FL I know he's in heaven above. I still want justice but it doesn't seem that the homicide division of the Chicago Police Dept is working too hard in this case. Bobby life was taken too soon. I miss him immensely. It's really sad that he had only moved back to the north side three weeks before his murder. Somebody knows who did this. Speak up people. It won't bring him back but it would bring some closer. I guess I'll never have closer. It hurts so much. To whoever did this you are the scum of the earth. Sorry, just how I feel.
ReplyDelete