Rogers Park residents band together as police continue search for killer

Friday, October 19, 2018

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Rogers Park community remains on alert as police continue searching for the man who randomly killed two men in a 36-hour period earlier this month.

Douglass Watts, 73, was gunned down on a sidewalk while walking his dogs. Eliyahu Moscowitz was at Loyola Park.

Rogers Park resident Bandon Nida said that park used to be his refuge.

"I used to love coming out here at night, headphones on, playing music, playing Pokemon like Eli, and I don't do it anymore," he said.

There's a $20,000 reward for any information that helps police track down the killer.

"For the person that perpetrated this crime, you are somewhere in this community. I know you are. You are living somewhere in this community. You are not going to get away with this," said Jim Hobson, another Rogers Park resident. "We can no longer allow fear to keep us in our homes."

The Rogers Park Chamber of Commerce is trying to do what it can to help businesses that are suffering. Bill Morton is the president of the chamber.

"We are helping with promotion. We are hosting events at their locations so that people will come to our events and their locations, walk through the door and maybe buy dinner and support," he said.

Morton said he knows this community isn't the only one in the city where residents are living in fear.

"We need to come together to find a solution to issue in our community and citywide. I know it's not just a Rogers Park problem. It's a citywide problem," he said.