Robbery suspect who left his phone number is shot by police
Workers told to call when boss returned
Mechanic Jose Sida (left) was working at the Northwest Side muffler shop where a man attempted a robbery
Tuesday, leaving his phone number and asking employees to call him when their boss returned to open the shop's safe.
(Tribune photo by Abel Uribe / March 25, 2008)
By Dan P. Blake | Tribune reporter
11:01 PM CDT, March 25, 2008
Robbers don't usually leave phone numbers behind, but on Monday, at a Northwest Side muffler shop, a man asked employees to give him a call when
their boss came back to open a safe, an employee said Tuesday.
When the 18-year-old returned a few hours later, plainclothes Chicago police officers shot and wounded him in the leg, police said. Ruben Zarate of the
5100 of West Schubert Avenue was charged Tuesday with attempted armed robbery and aggravated assault of a police officer, the Cook County state's
attorney's office said.
The incident started about 8 a.m., when the masked man, armed with a revolver, came in to Velasquez Mufflers For Less at 2600 N. Laramie Ave. and
began demanding money, said Jose Sida, 37, a mechanic.
Employees told him they had little money and couldn't open the safe, so the man left two phone numbers for them to call when the owner returned with the
combination, Sida said.
"He said, 'You guys better call me because otherwise I'm going to come back to shoot you,'" Sida said.
Instead, an employee called Chicago police.
Officers dressed in plainclothes came to the shop and told employees to call the man, Sida said. The man returned about noon, wearing the same mask
and black clothing and officers told the employees to get to the back of the shop, Sida said.
A police source said the teen pulled a gun from his hooded sweat shirt and at least one officer opened fire. Zarate's injury was not thought to be life-
threatening, the source said.
Mark Payne, a spokesman for the Independent Police Review Authority, said the man was treated at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center for a
gunshot wound. He said his agency was investigating the police-involved shooting but said that the inquiry would take six months to complete and that he
could not release any details.
Sida said the teen's idea to leave his phone numbers was "stupid," but said employees were just following police instructions to call him back.
Employees now are worried the man's friends may return to get back at the shop employees for calling police.
"We followed police instructions, otherwise he would have come back for sure [to rob us]," Sida said.
Tribune reporter Angela Rozas contributed to this report.
Sheriff: Woman sat on toilet for 2 years
By ROXANA HEGEMAN, Associated Press Writer
3 minutes ago
WICHITA, Kan. - Authorities are considering charges in the bizarre case of a woman who sat on her boyfriend's toilet for two years — so long that her body
was stuck to the seat by the time the boyfriend finally called police.
Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple said it appeared the 35-year-old Ness City woman's skin had grown around the seat. She initially refused emergency
medical services but was finally convinced by responders and her boyfriend that she needed to be checked out at a hospital.
"We pried the toilet seat off with a pry bar and the seat went with her to the hospital," Whipple said. "The hospital removed it."
Whipple said investigators planned to present their report Wednesday to the county attorney, who will determine whether any charges should be filed
against the woman's 36-year-old boyfriend.
"She was not glued. She was not tied. She was just physically stuck by her body," Whipple said. "It is hard to imagine. ... I still have a hard time
imagining it myself."
He told investigators he brought his girlfriend food and water, and asked her every day to come out of the bathroom.
"And her reply would be, `Maybe tomorrow,'" Whipple said. "According to him, she did not want to leave the bathroom."
The boyfriend called police on Feb. 27 to report that "there was something wrong with his girlfriend," Whipple said, adding that he never explained why it
took him two years to call.
Police found the clothed woman sitting on the toilet, her sweat pants down to her mid-thigh. She was "somewhat disoriented," and her legs looked like they
had atrophied, Whipple said.
"She said that she didn't need any help, that she was OK and did not want to leave," he said.
She was reported in fair condition at a hospital in Wichita, about 150 miles southeast of Ness City. Whipple said she has refused to cooperate with
medical providers or law enforcement investigators.
Authorities said they did not know if she was mentally or physically disabled.
Police have declined to release the couple's names, but the house where authorities say the incident happened is listed in public records as the
residence of Kory McFarren. No one answered his home phone number.
The case has been the buzz of Ness City, said James Ellis, a neighbor.
"I don't think anybody can make any sense out of it," he said.
Ellis said he had known the woman since she was a child but that he had not seen her for at least six years.
He said she had a tough childhood after her mother died at a young age and apparently was usually kept inside the house as she grew up. At one time the
woman worked for a long-term care facility, he said, but he did not know what kind of work she did there.
"It really doesn't surprise me," Ellis said. "What surprises me is somebody wasn't called in a bit earlier."
This is just so bizarre... I am not sure if I should laugh or cry.
While I fear that we're drawn
to what abandons us,
and to what seems most
likely to abandon us,
in the end I believe we're
defined by what embraces us.
Many Blogstream members are there
already! Quotes from members: "It's like blog lite!" -- "I like the instant
gratification!" -- "Stop spectating, get in the game!"
If you have not joined in, you are really missing out!
