Jason Draper and his wife Leonore, an anti-violence activist, were at an April fundraiser to raise awareness about gun crime when he decided to duck out early to grab some food and head home to rest. Leonore stayed behind to chat with her college roommate.
On his way out the door, Jason Draper gave his wife a kiss and said he'd see her later. But it was the last time the Drapers, college sweethearts married for seven years, would truly be together.
As he ate his meal in the bedroom of their home at 116th and Laflin streets, Jason Draper heard a "pop, pop, pop" outside.
Then a knock at the door. Something is wrong with your wife, a neighbor told Jason in a panic. There at the curb, his wife lay slumped over in her car with a bullet wound to the arm.
"I thought she was going to make it," said Jason Draper, 35. "I just sat [at the hospital] and waited."
Leonore, 32 and a grants analyst for Chicago Public Schools, suffered a heart attack and died two hours later at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Jason Draper said. That was April 26. Her killer has never been charged. And Jason Draper says he hasn't lived in their 116th Street home since.
"I miss her every day," Draper told RedEye in a recent interview. "I talk to her every night [and tell her] `I love you and I am going to find out who killed you.'"
Leonore Draper, who also wrote grants for an anti-violence organization in Chicago, died as a result of the violence she was fighting. Chicago police say she was an innocent bystander in a gang fight and was one of six people to die this year from gun violence in West Pullman on or near 116th Street, a mostly residential South Side road not known for killings, according to a RedEye analysis of preliminary police data as of Sunday afternoon.
Her death was part of an uptick this year in homicides along a stretch of 116th Street-from Laflin Street to Michigan Avenue-in West Pullman, which Chicago police attribute to gang violence. While 116th Street has struggled this year, the rest of West Pullman-loosely bounded by 115th Street to the north, Little Calumet River to the south, Interstate 57 to the west and Indiana Avenue to the east-has seen a drop in killings this year compared to 2013.
Boarded-up homes and vacant lots with overgrown weeds have become symbols of economic downturn, residents say, but West Pullman may attract more commuter foot traffic if the CTA moves forward with its plan to add a Red Line stop at 116th Street and Michigan Avenue as part of a proposed Red Line extension from 95th to 130th Street, a transit-starved area for decades.
"We're waiting on grocery stores, on retail stores. I would describe it as being abandoned. Some parts even look like a third-world country," said Diane Latiker, who moved to 116th Street and Michigan Avenue nearly 30 years ago. "When you get past 115th [Street], it's like it stops. The economy stops. And then past 122nd [Street], it picks up again because those are nice residential homes."
In the past two decades, Latiker's watched residents and businesses leave West Pullman instead of invest in the community. West Pullman counted 29,651 residents in the 2010 Census, down 19 percent from 36,649 residents in the 2000 Census.
But the area could see a boost if the CTA finds funding to build four proposed Red Line stations south of 95th Street. The 116th Street and Michigan Avenue station would be served by buses that currently run on 115th Street and Michigan Avenue, both major commercial thoroughfares, CTA spokeswoman Tammy Chase said.
The 11600 block of South Michigan Avenue may serve as the future site of a Red Line train station but for now, it is the spot for a different landmark, one that honors young victims of gun violence.
Eleven years ago, Latiker transformed her West Pullman home into the headquarters for her organization Kids Off the Block, which provides mentoring and tutoring services to local teens who want alternatives to the dangerous streets.
Seven years ago, she transformed a vacant lot into a temple of stones that serves as a memorial to those killed by gunfire under the age of 25-after Blair Holt, a 16-year-old high school student who was gunned down on a CTA bus in 2007 while trying to protect a friend.
Latiker said the memorial, at 11618 S. Michigan Ave., has 374 stones which she purchased with her own money-at $2.99 apiece-from a local home improvement store. Each stone has the name of a gunshot victim written on it. She has more than 500 stones left to add.
"When Blair Holt was killed, it was such a terrible crime," Latiker said. "I wanted to shock the young people."
Gun violence still persists in her neighborhood. There have been seven killings so far this year in West Pullman-six on or just off 116th Street and one homicide on 117th Street. The most recent West Pullman homicide was Nov. 16 when Dalon Mobley, 30, was shot and killed in the 11600 block of South Racine Avenue.
Larry Watson, the commander of the Chicago Police Fifth District, which covers West Pullman, said each of the 116th Street killings this year were tied to gangs but declined to give details because charges have not been filed in six of the seven homicides.
A 2012 map of Chicago gangs from the Chicago Crime Commission, a public safety group run by civic leaders, shows that 116th Street, from Michigan Avenue west to Interstate 57, is run by the Gangster Disciples. The Latin Kings rule 116th Street east of Michigan Avenue, according to the map.
Watson said there is no link between the 116th Street killings this year.
"Realistically, there's no direct correlation between any of them other than the geographic location," Watson said.
Overall, West Pullman's seven homicides this year is an improvement from 2013, when 20 killings were reported in the community, including three killings occurring on or near 116th Street. Ald. Carrie Austin, whose 34th ward includes West Pullman, did not respond to a request for comment.
Watson credited the decline in homicides to police identifying people who could be shooters based on their criminal records and affiliations with gangs and then letting these people know they are on police radar. Police also tip their hats to those residents cooperating with police investigating crime.
In the Draper killing, Jason Draper is hoping someone will pick up the phone and tell police who shot his wife.
He has been staying in Morgan Park with his mother, who helps him get around. Jason has walked with a cane since 2004, five years after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
He is trying to sell his 116th Street home, where furniture he picked out with Leonore is now covered in sheets and their belongings sit in boxes. Jason said he plans to move to Oak Lawn because he heard it's a "good area."
He had heard the same about West Pullman when he moved there eight years ago. He said he never had a problem with crime there before this year, and never considered moving. Now he knows he cannot stay.
"My wife's not here anymore. This is our home. It's not the same," Draper said.