Afternoon Edition: April 16, 2021

Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a 5-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.

This afternoon will be partly sunny with a high near 57 degrees. Tonight will be partly cloudy with a low around 38 degrees. This weekend will be mild: Partly sunny with a high near 54 degrees Saturday, then partly sunny with a high near 59 degrees Sunday.

Top story

Nearly 30 years ago, her 12-year-old son was killed by a Chicago cop. ‘Do I think anything’s changed? No, I think it’s even worse today.’

A young boy is handed a gun by someone older, chased down a Southwest Side alley by a police officer and shot to death.

It’s a series of events now commanding the attention of Chicago, which had been anxiously awaiting the release of police body-camera video of the fatal shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo.

But a similar scenario played out nearly 30 years ago when an officer shot and killed a 12-year-old boy in Brighton Park — the youngest Chicago police shooting victim in recent memory.

Debra Fahrforth still doesn’t believe her son had a gun, as police said, when an officer shot 12-year-old Joey Chlopek the afternoon of June 6, 1992.

“I’ll never believe what the cops said about that day. My boy was jumping over the fence” when he was shot, said Fahrforth, 60.

It was nearly three decades ago, but she lives with it every day, surprised it didn’t prompt her to take her own life.

“When he died, I died,” she said.

The police said Joey was shot after pointing a .22-caliber pistol at a plainclothes officer, David Jarmusz, during a foot chase. Shot three times in an alley, Joey collapsed in a backyard in the 3000 block of West 38th Street.

Other than Jarmusz, there were no witnesses.

Read David Struett’s full story on Fahrforth and the 1992 police killing of her son, Joey Chlopek, here.

More news you need

1. The inspector general’s latest quarterly report includes several allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment by city employees. In one allegation, a city truck driver allegedly exposed himself and masturbated inside a city-owned vehicle in broad daylight.
2. Illinois officials today reported 166,885 more doses of COVID-19 vaccines going into arms, the state’s second-best day for vaccination numbers yet. More than twice as many Illinoisans have been vaccinated than infected with COVID-19 since last year, as city prepares to expand eligibility.
3. Former Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club boss Orville “Orvie” Cochran got the green light last month for early release from a five-year racketeering conspiracy sentence. Prosecutors fought against the decision, arguing Cochran – who had been on the run from 2001 until his 2017 arrest – had already gotten off easy given the length of his sentence.
4. “Buzz” Palmer, an ex-cop and organizer who co-founded Chicago’s Afro-American Patrolmen’s League, has died at age 84. Palmer also headed the city’s Sister Cities program during Mayor Harold Washington’s administration.
5. The University of Chicago will train U.S. Army surgeons, nurses and other emergency care specialists at its South Side trauma center starting later this year. The move is part of an Army initiative to partner with trauma centers around the country to train military medical personnel.

A bright one

Groups give warm meals, helping hand to homeless living under Kennedy Expressway

The smell of fresh Middle Eastern cuisine wafted through the air below the Kennedy Expressway Thursday, past a row of tents, lines of cars and several members of local community groups who came out to lend a hand to the area’s homeless.

Georgia Doty Comprehensive Health and Zakat Foundation of America, teamed up to bring the warm meal, as well as groceries, sanitary products and PPE to those who live under the overpass near West Fullerton Avenue in Bucktown.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

Don Doty, president and CEO of Georgia Doty Comprehensive Health, which works to provide health awareness and education, said as a disabled veteran, he is committed to providing essential resources and services to underserved populations.

He said the event marked the first of many his group has planned this year.

Claudia Martinez, program manager at Zakat Foundation of America, said during Ramadan it provides fresh meals to the homeless every week in different locations. The group appeals to Muslims who look to give back during this time of fasting.

“Our campaign is, ‘Feel the hunger to do good,’” Martinez said. “ ... It’s important for us to be in our city and involved.”

Read Mari Devereaux’s full story here.

From the press box

None other than Michael Jordan will be the presenter for Kobe Bryant’s induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame next month, and Rick Morrissey says there’s no better choice for the role than the man Kobe built his game and on-court persona off of.

Don’t assume Carlos Rodon’s no-hitter against the Indians was a fluke – White Sox pitching coach Ethan Katz says the 2014 top-3 draft pick, if healthy, “could be one of the best pitchers in the American League.”

Your daily question ☕

What’s something you hope to accomplish this summer?

Email us (please include your first name and where you live) and we might include your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.

Yesterday, we asked you: If you live with roommates, how has the pandemic affected your relationship with them? Here’s what some of you said...

“We had to adjust to all doing something — cooking everyday, saving as much as possible, work around the house. Fixed the yard, painted the house, planted our own food and got fat.” — Milan Salvatore

“I’m married but it made us get closer to God and not to take anything for granted. Always tell your loved you love them.” — Nunise Holmes

“Does a husband and pets count? ...Our life didn’t really change the only thing nice is the roads we very quiet and no people out!” — Kris Michelle Walenga Tchoryk

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