We lost on Monday Officer David Blake, a member of our SWAT Team. We were greiving his loss, when on Friday Officer Michael Flisk, an evidence technician, along with a retired Chicago Public Housing Police Officer Stephen Peters, were gunned down. God Bless them.
We are short 2000 Police Officers, please pray for us.
Police Officer David Blake http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2010/11/23/slain-off-duty-officer-likely-knew-his-killer/
Police Officer Michael Flisk http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/2930732,cop-death-charges-112910.article
Retired Chicago Housing Authority Police Officer Stephen Peters and his wife, DJ Peters.
chicagotribune.com
When the barbarians no longer fear the police
John Kass
12:13 AM CST, December 1, 2010
It looked like any other Chicago alley in late November. A gray sky, gray trees, asphalt, gray squirrels hopping up on black garbage cans.
There was no sign there saying that the thugs have stopped fearing the police. But you don't need a sign if you look at the numbers: five officers from the Chicago Police Department shot to death in the last six months.
Last week on Black Friday, it was Officer Michael Flisk, 46, a decorated evidence technician killed as he quietly dusted a garage for fingerprints in broad daylight.
Flisk and a burglary victim, former CHA police Officer Stephen Peters, 44, were slain in the 8100 block of South Burnham Avenue.
Peters was the proud owner of a particularly fine ride, a red Ford Mustang GT he kept in that locked garage. The speakers had been ripped out. Flisk came alone to process the scene.
"I saw Steve and he was waiting for the police and I went inside my house," a neighbor told me Tuesday morning. "And once I'm inside, I hear the shots. Pop. Pop."
He clapped his hands twice, out there in the alley in the cold.
"So I go back outside, out on the walk next to the garage, and when I get up to my fence, I look through it and see them both on the ground."
He couldn't see the shooter.
"All I see is Steve lying there. And the police officer, he's still gurgling. I run back to the house to call 911, and then, when I'm halfway back to the house, I hear two more shots. Pop! Pop!"
He clapped his hands again, and this time he left a long beat between the claps. Out there with him, I could see it:
The killer shoots each victim in the head. A short time later, he leans over them, holding that 9 mm handgun with the laser sight. He finishes each man with another shot to the head, just to make sure.
On Tuesday afternoon, at 26th and California, the 19-year-old parolee accused of murdering Flisk and Peters stood in Criminal Court before Cook County Judge Ramon Ocasio.
Timothy Herring Jr. was convicted of armed robbery as a 16-year-old, taking down a store in his own neighborhood where he was well-known. He did three years and was paroled.
Herring had a strange new haircut, short and scraggly and definitely homemade. Prosecutors said he'd lopped off his braids after the shootings in the hope of disguising his appearance.
And so he stood there before the judge, shifting from side to side. Surely he must have felt the eyes on him from behind the glass.
There in the gallery, sitting thickly in the rows, were police officers. Most were in plainclothes, in fleeces and jeans and jackets. All of them had their stars hanging on chains around their necks.
Assistant State's Atty. Jamie Santini read the charges professionally, without drama. The flat nature of Santini's voice as he detailed the crimes in a matter-of-fact manner made it worse.
"The defendant had stated to a witness months earlier that he wanted to 'hit the victim for his sounds,' meaning to rob him of his car stereo equipment," Santini said.
According to Santini, a witness said Herring walked up to Flisk and Peters and told them he knew who burglarized the prized Mustang. Peters said it didn't matter what Herring knew because Flisk had found the fingerprints.
That's when it happened.
"The defendant walked a short distance away from the victims, pulled out a gun and shot each victim once in the head," Santini said. "The witness heard the shots, and looked outside, and saw (Peters) lying in a pool of blood."
Santini said Herring walked off carting a garbage can full of stolen stereo equipment from Peters' car, then turned and noticed one of the victims was still moving.
He said Herring then returned to finish them. Later, Herring cut his hair to change his looks, stuffed the braids into a box, along with his coat and gun, and asked a friend to hide them.
Obviously, Herring isn't a criminal mastermind. Based on his past record, he's just another barbarian. But the barbarians have always been around.
What's different is that many police officers feel the barbarians are no longer afraid of the Chicago Police Department. Whether that's a fact or not, what is a fact is that the cops are the ones in the alleys.
And out in that alley on the Southeast Side, the November winds picking up, I couldn't help but think how warm it was in May when Officer Thomas Wortham IV was shot to death outside his home by thieves bent on stealing his motorcycle.
Then in July, Officer Thor Soderberg was killed in a police parking lot. Later that month, Officer Michael Bailey was gunned down on a Sunday morning, while washing his car outside his home, a month before retirement.
Last week, Officer David Blake was killed sitting in his personal car.
And on Friday, it was Michael Flisk, married and father of four. The funeral is scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Rita of Cascia Shrine Chapel, 7740 S. Western Ave.
"And for what?" the man in the alley asked me. "A double homicide for a couple of car speakers? Are you kidding me? That's messed up."
No. When the barbarians no longer fear the police, it's worse.
jskass@tribune.com
Copyright © 2010, Chicago Tribune http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-met-kass-1201-20101130,0,89582.column
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