Merchants Fearful in Edgewater, Rogers Park

UPDATED 01/27/08

"This will be a dangerous year," the merchant on Morse Avenue told The Bench this morning. "There will be more crime. People have been driven from their homes by Joe Moore. There aren't enough jobs in Rogers Park."

The Morse Avenue merchant, who asked to remain anonymous for obvious reasons, was reflecting on yesterday's shooting murder of convenience store owner Kaycee Fadiya. "KC," as he was know to customers and neighbors, was shot at 11:00 a.m. in his Edgewater Mini Mart store at 1215 W. Devon Avenue yesterday. KC staggered to the sidewalk. Earlier reports said that he died shortly after being taken to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston. However, The Bench has learned that he was died at the scene of the shooting.

KC Fadiya was a resident of Des Plaines.

Edgewater Mini Mart is located just a few steps west of the busy intersection where N. Broadway becomes N. Sheridan as you move north across W. Devon, in police beat 2433. Many Loyola University students live and shop in the immediate area. Across the street is a towering retirement home.

The next CAPS meeting for Beat 2433 is on February 7 at the Edgewater Library, 1210 W. Elmdale (just west of N. Broadway).

As of 3:40 p.m. on Saturday, there is no update online from 40th Ward Alderman Patrick O'Connor nor from the 2433 CAPS Beat. However, Loyola's director of campus safety, Bernard Ward, sent an email with an update:

The lone offender is described as follows: male, approximately 5'10" - 6' tall, wearing a green hooded sweatshirt covered by a black leather jacket, gray pants, and tan work boots. If you see an individual fitting this description, please call 911 immediately, as this person is armed and dangerous. (Full text here)

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abc7chicago.com: Owner shot dead at Edgewater store 1/25/08