Man with axe damages 7 cars outside Chicago Fire Department station on South Side
A man with an axe damaged the personal vehicles of several Chicago firefighters on Friday morning outside their fire station in Washington Park. It was the second such incident this week.
Chicago police confirmed seven parked vehicles were damaged in the first block of West 59th Street just before 6 a.m.
Friday morning's incident was caught on surveillance video, which shows a suspect using an axe to damage several cars. Glass littered the ground from smashed windows. Some cars even had holes in their hoods.
"He did it in between shifts. Thankfully, he didn't run into any firemen because that would not have been good, because they would not have taken that," Chicago Fire Fighters Union Local 2 President Patrick Cleary said. "He's obviously mad about something, or maybe he's just mentally ill, and it has nothing to do with the Fire Department."
Firefighters who put their lives on the line and leave the station to battle fires and help people in other emergencies said they never would have thought they'd have to worry about their personal cars being hacked up with an axe.
Cleary was trying to make sense as to why someone would target firefighters' personal vehicles.
"It just doesn't make sense, which makes me kind of think that this guy's not all there," Cleary said. "We just had Firefighter [Michael] Altman die. We're here helping people. We're putting our lives on the line, and this is what someone does in the return."
It was the second time this week someone has damaged firefighters' personal vehicles. Four days ago, cars also were damaged outside a fire station in Bronzeville.
"Normally, it's like really randomly done; a rock thrown into a parking lot, you know, out of the blue. This seems more concentrated, like he's coming after firemen, he's going after firemen cars," Cleary said. "It's just sad. I mean it's just wrong. You're taking it out on the wrong people."
Police issued a community alert on Friday regarding four criminal property damage incidents outside firehouses since Feb. 5.
According to the alerts, someone used an unknown object to damage the windows of government property in Chinatown, twice in Bronzeville, and on Friday in Washington Park.
Based on the surveillance video, that object appears to be an axe.
"It's very scary, and on top of it, we're here to help people. We're here to do our job, and show up to our job, and help people, and to have to worry now about our cars and worry about our vehicles being damaged, it's very disheartening for our members," Firefighter Patrick Quan said.
Cleary said a separate organization pays for fencing if a firehouse requests extra security.
"What happens is the firehouse will request that a fence be put up, we'll bring it to the fire board, they'll vote on it and approve the expense, and then they'll have it done, but that's not going to stop this guy," he said.
It's unclear if anything was taken from any of the vehicles that were damaged. No one was injured and police are investigating.