Homicide: Life (and Death) on the Street

Life in Oak Park is generally tranquil for us, however, occasional incidents occur which remind us that we are not completely insulated from "big city" crime. In the early morning of September 12th, a murder took place several blocks from our house. All the facts are not known yet, but so far we know that the victim was a gang member with numerous convictions and was presumably killed as the result of gang warfare occuring in Chicago. Division Street is one of the thoroughfares connecting Oak Park with Chicago. Apparently gang members based Chicago decided to drive (with the victim) on Division St into Oak Park where they committed the murder.

In one sense, the details of the murder are reassuring: the shooting took place at 2:30 AM, the victim was not a resident of Oak Park minding his/her own business, and the crime seems to originate from Chicago-based crime/criminals. Nonetheless, the close proximity in itself is obviously quite worrisome. The shooting took place across the street from Taylor Park, where Julia goes to play in a totlot. I can't imagine what I would be feeling had the criminals chosen my street to commit their crime.

Living next to a low socioeconomic/high crime urban neighborhood is simply a fact of life in Oak Park. You do what you can to insulate yourself and especially your family, but obviously there are limits to what you can do, short of moving out.