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* Tom Schuba…
Fifty minutes after two women were somehow wounded by gunshots Aug. 25, [the now-former commander of the CPD’s patrol bureau John Spellman] informed Sox staff that Patrol Chief Brian McDermott wanted to “stop the game for public safety reasons,” according to a police report.
Spellman had been serving as a security supervisor for At Your Service LLC, the company that guards Sox park and is controlled by team executives, according to law enforcement sources.
There was concern that Spellman might have prioritized the interests of the team over the department and stalled in delivering McDermott’s request to pause the game, a source said. He also didn’t have the superintendent’s approval to work the security job, as required by a departmental order. […]
In an appearance last week on the Sun-Times’ Fran Spielman Show, [former acting police superintendent Fred Waller] wouldn’t comment on whether Spellman had been given approval to work for At Your Service. He also sidestepped a question about whether Spellman had disobeyed a direct order from McDermott.
Spellman was demoted and sent to the Morgan Park District on Waller’s last day in office, according to the report.
Also, points to Schuba for calling it “Sox park.”
...Adding… Related…
* White Sox ballpark shooting victim breaks silence, speaks exclusively with ABC7: “I heard a loud pop,” the victim said. “I felt an impact on my leg, and I looked down and I did not see anything. I thought somebody, you know, in the crowd had thrown a beer can or thrown something, bottled water or something, and there was nothing there.” But then, someone nearby noticed a lot of blood, and she looked down and saw her right leg was bleeding. “It wasn’t until a couple moments later that somebody mentioned that there was a bullet found a couple of rows down,” she said. “And at that moment was when I realized I had been shot. I panicked. I completely went into panic mode, knowing that there was a bullet fired nearby us. And at that point I didn’t know if it was there was going to be more gunfire. I didn’t know anything. I was terrified. I wanted to get out of that area because I knew somebody in the immediate area had a gun on them.”
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 9:12 am
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Corruption, double dealing, and misconduct in the Chicago Police Department!? What’s next, gambling in Casablanca?
Comment by Precinct Captain Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 9:14 am
The only real detail that matters to me is finding out how a gun got into the park. Getting into the park has become a nightmare and a meaningless one if guns are getting in.
Comment by Friendly Bob Adams Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 9:20 am
This may be a stupid technical question, but what is the basis for the authority of police to order the stoppage of a business activity during an investigation on site? I assume it exists since you don’t necessarily want people contaminating a crime scene, but like what is the extent of the authority to order the entire game stopped?
But separate from that, if the right wing approach to gun control (i.e. have no control, and in fact have even more guns out there) persists, there will just be more and more incidents like this. We’ll end up shutting things down constantly because of idiots with guns.
Comment by Homebody Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 9:22 am
At the rate (no pun intended) details are coming out in this case, we should almost have an idea of who got shot and how when Mayor Vallas orders an abrupt shutdown of the entire investigation in 2027.
Comment by Roadrager Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 9:23 am
Is the William D. Waters who is the manager of At Your Service L.L.C. the same person as the Bill Waters who is vice president of finance for the White Sox?
Comment by hisgirlfriday Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 9:26 am
Just another black mark on an incredibly disappointing White Sox season.
Comment by Stones Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 9:29 am
Craig Wall did an interview with the shooting victim.
This keeps getting weirder. Sure seems like it’s gonna end up like most shooting cases in Chicago: unsolved.
https://abc7chicago.com/white-sox-shooting-victim-interview-guaranteed-rate-field-chicago-public-schools/13839792/
Comment by Telly Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 9:29 am
Is kind of strange that they didn’t stop the game but they did stop the Vanilla Ice concert.
Comment by Frida’s boss Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 9:33 am
=== the same person as the Bill Waters===
Yes.
Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 9:35 am
I find it interesting that Jerry Reinsdorf and lobbyist extraordinaire John Kelly own a security business together, yet the good people at Sox Park use another firm “controlled by team executives”.
Are Sentinel Security, the firm owned by Kelly and Reinsdorf, and At Your Service interconnected? Enquiring minds want to know.
Comment by Anon 9:34 Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 9:37 am
If I’m looking at this… it was about the coverup.
No not that coverup, the coverup of someone doing something they weren’t authorized to be doing and this incident would finally highlight it… and that was the “bad”
If you stop a game, that’s even a bigger hotter spotlight. You stop “Ice, Ice, Baby”, it’s merely a footnote. Right?
No. Now it’ll play out. The story will devolve.
Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 9:38 am
I’m still marveling at the fact that Waller was able to sidestep a question from Fran Spielman.
Comment by Shytown Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 9:39 am
yeah, so that is messed up. I’ll be impressed if the 26 year old woman gets interviewed. isn’t she the one with the marks on her abdomen that are burn like?
Comment by Amalia Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 9:41 am
It’s so obvious that the gun was an undercover police officer’s. Got waved through by security. The “stuck in fat folds” one-source “report” was so nonsensical, it was insulting.
Comment by The Truth Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 9:44 am
=== He also sidestepped a question about whether Spellman had disobeyed a direct order from McDermott ===
If Spellman was working for the Sox/At Your Service that night, how could McDermott give him a direct order? Chain of command gets really murky when the guy in charge of security works for both the police and the team.
Comment by vern Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 9:45 am
A gun in the ballpark, two women shot, and for the public safety of all in attendance, and CPD wanted to stop the game, or requested the game be stopped? After a month of doubletalk by all concerned, this nonsense is just getting worse.
Comment by Louis G Atsaves Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 9:55 am
Please Jerry, sell the team.
Comment by James the Intolerant Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 9:56 am
“It’s so obvious that the gun was an undercover police officer’s.”
I haven’t been to a Sox game in about 10 years. Is it hard to believe you could get a handgun in? Back then it would have been pretty easy.
Not surprising that Jerry Reinsdorf would insult the public’s intelligence with his insistence that the gunfire came from outside the stadium. That’s an absurd claim to have made and sadly typical of the contempt he has for the general public that has made him a billionaire.
Comment by Larry Bowa Jr. Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 9:59 am
===Back then it would have been pretty easy.===
Not so much any longer.
As an aside, I went to Fenway this summer. No metal detectors.
Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 10:05 am
=As an aside, I went to Fenway this summer. No metal detectors.=
I thought from 9/11 to this day that anyone going to stadiums, arenas, and other large-scale events had to go through security and metal detectors, etc.
Comment by Stuck in Celliniland Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 10:10 am
What’s the reason we don’t know more about this? Is it because attendance is so bad there were no witnesses?
Comment by EP1082 Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 10:30 am
There is certainly a coverup here, but it’s not because a police officer was involved. If this was a negligent discharge incident involving a cop, it would have come out immediately.
Comment by Nope Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 10:33 am
===Is it because attendance is so bad ===
Take a breath.
The place had tons of people because of a concert that was to follow. The game went on, but the concert was canceled.
Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 10:34 am
“If this was a negligent discharge incident involving a cop, it would have come out immediately.”
I’d agree if they were on duty in uniform when the negligent discharge takes place.
Not sure I believe anyone employed by CPD has ever voluntarily reported a negligent discharge that occurred off duty. All kinds of incentives running against that.
Comment by Larry Bowa Jr. Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 10:41 am
===There is certainly a coverup here, but it’s not because a police officer was involved===
CPD already covered up the fact that Spellman was not approved to work security. Not saying there’s definitely more to CPD’s coverup, but they don’t have a whole lot of credibility on this topic right now so it can’t be ruled out.
Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 10:42 am
==I thought from 9/11 to this day that anyone going to stadiums, arenas, and other large-scale events had to go through security and metal detectors, etc.==
Stuck: Since you say you’ll never go to another large gathering post Covid, it should not impact you one way or the other.
Comment by don the legend Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 11:10 am
=The place had tons of people because of a concert that was to follow.=
You know you’re a bad team when people only show up to see Vanilla Ice. I’m imagining a lot of disappointed people with mullets and parachute pants leaving the stadium mumbling “word to your mother.”
Comment by Pundent Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 11:35 am
== Not surprising that Jerry Reinsdorf would insult the public’s intelligence with his insistence that the gunfire came from outside the stadium. That’s an absurd claim… ==
While I agree that Reinsdorf often insults our intelligence, this would not be the first time a bullet fired into the air outside the ballpark struck a fan inside the stadium. It’s an unlikely scenario, but not impossible:
https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2023/9/1/23856073/white-sox-shooting-stray-bullet-history-of-other-ballpark-shootings
And while the possibility of wider cover-up by CPD certainly can’t be dismissed, if they were trying to protect one of there own (say an off-duty cop who dropped his gun nearby) wouldn’t they be publicly embracing the shot-fired-outside-the-park theory?
Comment by Telly Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 11:42 am
=this would not be the first time a bullet fired into the air outside the ballpark struck a fan inside the stadium=
In the leg in the middle of a row of seats? Keep in mind the initial thought was that the wound may have been self-inflicted given its location.
Comment by Pundent Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 12:04 pm
I will also offer kudos to reference to Sox Park as a Cubs fan as I hate these corporate names to New Comiskey Park. And sorry to not talk a lot about this unfortunate incident there.
Comment by Levois Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 12:23 pm
===the initial thought was that the wound may have been self-inflicted given its location.===
That is still my operating assumption. One of the two women either brought in the gun and caused it to discharge, or they know the person who did. But they’ve lawyered up.
Curious that they haven’t filed a suit against the White Sox though. At least not yet anyway. If I was injured like that, and had nothing to do with it nor any knowledge of how it happened, I’d sue the pants off the White Sox. If for no other reason than to get answers to why this happened and to help make sure it can’t happen to anyone else ever again.
There will be more to come. And I might even be proven wrong about who is responsible. I can’t believe it’s been this long with so little new information and no charges yet.
Comment by 47th Ward Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 12:29 pm
Exempt members cannot hold outside employment and Spellman well aware of it. To be at such a public place working a “ side job” says a lot about his judgement. Not the smartest idea. I would suspect it pretty obvious to the investigators what really happened but in usual fashion CPD will cover it up for a well healed connected person
Comment by Regular democrat Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 12:51 pm
So Sox Park has cameras and metal detectors at their entrances.
Why not just go through the footage and find the women when they came in? You’ll be able to see if they got waved through without the metal detector. That said you can also see from cameras who were in that section all around them. Traceback their entry into the stadium as well. Did they go through the detectors or were they waved through?
Comment by Frida's boss Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 1:10 pm
Lots of negatives in this story. Possible unauthorized secondary employment by the Patrol Chief, two injured individuals, not a lot of transparency on what happened. I prefer to think the glass if half full. No Vanilla Ice Concert.
Comment by The Magnificent Purple Walnut Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 2:27 pm
== Curious that they haven’t filed a suit against the White Sox though. At least not yet anyway. If I was injured like that, and had nothing to do with it nor any knowledge of how it happened, I’d sue the pants off the White Sox. ==
Good point. I found it curious that the woman who was grazed in the abdomen refused medical attention at the scene.
Comment by Telly Friday, Sep 29, 23 @ 2:58 pm