This news story is out of Englewood and we see how neighborhood residents are responding to this development.
Neighbors in Englewood are not pleased after an 80-year-old bar owner was arrested for shooting a man who was allegedly burglarizing his house.They held a press conference outside of his bar located at 6458 S. Morgan St. and here is what some resident have said in Mr. Wright's defense:
Homer Wright allegedly shot Anthony Robinson, 19, in the leg as Robinson tried to break into Wright’s home, in the 6400 block of South Morgan Street, to steal liquor around 6:30 a.m. Monday, police said. Wright operates his bar, Tanks Lounge, from the same building, and is affectionately known as “Tank,” Englewood activists say.
The bar has been in business for more than 40 years and is considered to be a community center, WBBM Newsradio’s Mike Krauser reports.
But Wright is a convicted felon, and is not allowed to own a gun, police said. Thus, he was charged with unlawful use of a weapon, a felony, police said.
The activists point out in a news release that many other senior citizens have shot suspects in self-defense and have not been arrested.They want to convince the State's Attorney Anita Alvarez to drop the charges against him, but Alvarez has made statements before she became State's Attorney that suggest she's very skittish about civilians owning guns. I wouldn't be surprised if her office purues charges against him. Still while granted Wright was a convicted felon there should be some form of discretion in this. It's not as if Wright was about to commit a crime himself if this was his own house.
“If the Chicago Police want to build a relationship with the community, this is a bad example,” community organizer Anita Dominique said in a news release. “I have known Tank for over 30 years and he is a pillar of our community. What does it say to me and other senior citizens that we will be arrested if we defend ourselves? This is an outrage.”
What do you think?
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