 |
| Skokie Police Chief Scarpelli said the suspected shooter A. Soballe (above) is not black and not on Sec. 8 |
This is just the latest in a tsunami of violent incidents that have occurred in that once tranquil Northern Chicago suburb since the end of April.
Additionally there have been a series of violent robberies of Skokie residents and most recently a racially motivated assault on a white couple in a Skokie park.
In all of the recent incidents, the suspects are black males.
The rash of violence prompted Skokie officials to hastily convoke a June 14th public forum where they sought to assuage growing citizen fears. Noticeably absent from the meeting was Skokie's usually publicity hungry mayor, George Van Dusen, former longtime aide to liberal Democrat Congressman Sidney Yates.
At the forum, Skokie's new police chief, Anthony Scarpelli asserted that crime was really down in the suburban village, that the suspected downtown shooter, a Skokie resident, despite having clearly African features, was not really an African American and was not a Section 8 low-income housing subsidee.
Nevertheless a survey taken at the event revealed that 62% of Skokie residents "believe they are less safe after dark in their own neighborhood."
Here is the chronicle of recent violent crime in Skokie:
--- June 14th Gunfire incident - 8 shots fired at passing car in downtown Skokie during rush hour - suspect Black mixed race
--- Two violent robberies within an 8 day period at the end of April. One woman stabbed and robbed of $500 near the 7-11 at Main St. and Skokie Blvd. One 54 year old man badly beaten and robbed of $250 near downtown Skokie -- suspects 2 black males
--- Last Week of June, 3 incidents of violent robbery of Apple iphones in residential area near downtown Skokie - suspects 3 black teens
 |
| A Skokie woman was robbed of her Ipod at gunpoint by a black male suspect |
--- June 25th incident where a group of black teens attacked a white couple badly beating the husband in Skokie's Tecumseh Park after yelling anti-white racial slurs - suspects 3 black teens
While the tempo of violent crime in Skokie has reached a fever pitch this Spring and early Summer , apparently it has been going on for a while. Last year these similar incidents occured:
Woman robbed of Ipod at gunpoint on North side of Skokie - suspect black male
Two teens robbed of cell phones March 4, 2011 near Skokie Swift station one assaulted -- suspects 2 black male teens
At an earlier public forum, Skokie residents blamed the new violent crime wave on the politically liberal suburb's encouragement and acceptance of federally subsidized Section 8 low-income housing vouchers, which have become prevalent in some of Skokie's seedier neighborhoods which abut its central business district.
Skokie's liberal political elites have long encouraged racial integration and settlement of low income residents there.
The Government of Niles Township, of which Skokie is the principal municipality, contributed taxpayer funds to the Interfaith Housing Center of the Northern Suburbs, a Saul Alinsky-styled community organizing group, which agitates for more low income housing in Chicago's suburbs.
And the Skokie Human Relations Commission, an agency of the Village government, is listed as a member of the group.
