Another Chicago Politician's Office Hit By Vandals
CHICAGO (CBS) -- For the fourth time this month, vandals have broken the windows at the offices of a Chicago politician. This time, the victim was State Rep. and Cook County Commissioner-elect John A. Fritchey, whose Lincoln Park office was hit early Friday.
Meantime, a man who allegedly told police he's "fed up with the government and banks since 2001" has been charged in one of three similar incidents earlier this month.
Fritchey's chief of staff discovered the damage about 8:30 a.m. Friday at 2539 N. Southport Ave., the legislator said.
"The glass was busted on a door to the office. I have a double-paned door,'' according to Fritchey, who said he did not know what was used to break the glass.
"It shattered the outer panel but didn't break the inner panel. If there's a silver lining to it, that as it,'' he said.
Fritchey said it must have happened sometime between close of business Thursday about 5 p.m. and 3:10 a.m. Friday, when a police patrol car spotted the damage.
The incident comes on the heels of at least three similar vandalism on the North Side earlier this month, one of which resulted in an arrest.
Admir Susic, 40, of the 1000 block of West Rosemont Avenue, was arrested Nov. 13 and charged with two counts of felony criminal damage to property, according to police News Affairs Officer Robert Perez.
Susic was ordered held on $30,000 bond on Nov. 14, according to Cook County State's Attorney's office spokesman Andy Conklin.
Susic is accused of hurling "pavers" or bricks at the 48th Ward Democratic Party offices, breaking three plate glass windows sometime between Nov. 8 and Nov. 9 in the 5500 block of North Broadway, Perez said. A computer, a printer, and a file cabinet inside the office were damaged.
Susic is also charged with throwing a piece of concrete at the PNC Bank branch at 5:15 a.m. Nov. 13 in the 5200 block of North Broadway, Perez said. He was arrested minutes later, near the bank, Perez said.
"Officers heard a loud bang and a crashing sound in their area. They were aware of the damage to businesses and local government offices and while working they heard the loud crash,'' according to Perez. Officers detained a man who fled from the scene, and Susic allegedly admitted his guilt.
"He said words to the effect of he was fed up with the banks and government since 2001,'' Perez said.
Perez said he does not know whether Susic is a suspect in the Fritchey incident or in two similar vandalisms that occurred a week ago in the Uptown neighborhood.
In the Nov. 12 incidents, the campaign offices of two different men running for 46th Ward alderman, James Cappleman and Michael Carroll, were damaged.
Sometime between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. in the 4100 block of North Broadway, a brick was thrown through the window of Cappleman's campaign office, according to a Town Hall District police lieutenant.
Carroll, a Chicago Police officer, said when he got to his campaign office at 4700 N. Sheridan Rd. about 10:15 a.m. that day, he noticed about 15 "big hunks of concrete" lying outside on the street. When he got to the door, there were 7 or 8 pieces of bricks lying outside the doors to the office, and the door was damaged.
Perez said no arrests have been made in the Uptown vandalisms.
Belmont Area detectives are investigating.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
