C O M P L E T E E L E C T I O N R E S U LT S AT O A K PA R K . C O M
JOURNAL W E D N E S D A Y
April 5, 2017 Vol. 35, No. 33 ONE DOLLAR
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The book of Elijah
Nearing the anniversary of her son’s death, Sharita Galloway drafts a story of survival By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter
incidents involving guns, a nonfatal shooting of a gang member in February and an aggravated discharge of a firearm a month earlier. Gunshots twice in under a month Waters, who has lived across the street from the BP for 10 years, said her fears worsened after returning home on Feb. 11 to find the gas station cordoned off with yellow police tape.
Last Friday afternoon, 1-year-old King Sims stumbled past framed photos of his brother, Elijah Sims. One shows Elijah when he was King’s age, and there’s a striking resemblance between the two. Another photo — taken not long before the 16-year-old Oak Park and River Forest High School student was gunned down in Austin last August — shows Elijah smiling. “King just started to walk like four days ago,” said Sharita Galloway, King’s and Elijah’s mother. She pointed to the framed photos, which were on the wood floor, propped up against the television stand. Sharita said King was several months old when EliELIJAH SIMS jah was killed. The toddler, however, hasn’t forgotten his brother. King seems to hold the memory of Elijah in his ligaments. “I never hung the photos up,” said Sharita. “I want to keep them low so King can see them. I would let him down to crawl, and he would crawl straight over to Elijah’s picture and just rub on his brother’s face. They spent a lot of time together. King knew his brother. He played with him. He loved him.” Sharita, 38, said she’s working on a scrapbook — a “Book of Elijah” — for King, so that he’ll remember his older brother’s quirks and traits. There’s a picture that King will perhaps laugh at one day of Elijah asleep in his mother’s car, sucking his bottom lip. “He sucked his bottom lip always, everywhere,”
See BP on page 13
See ELIJAH’S MOM on page 14
WILLIAM CAMARGO/Staff Photographer
POLICE PRESENCE: Oak Park Police Chief Anthony Ambrose says criminal activity around the BP gas station at 100 Chicago Ave. has prompted an increased police presence in the area.
Gas station crime prompts concern Residents looking for answers, send message of unity after shooting By TIMOTHY INKLEBARGER Staff Reporter
On most days the BP gas station at 100 Chicago Ave. is a real convenience for Christina Waters, who lives across
the street and frequents the business regularly for milk, cheese and other household goods. But over the last several months she’s grown worried about the business and the criminal activity it attracts. Between June of 2016 and mid-February, the 24-hour gas station has experienced at least seven motor vehicle thefts — worth a combined $87,900 in stolen property — and two separate
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