Peter Normand’s question for Curious City begins with an unusual email he received on July 13. The email was from his alderman, the 49th Ward’s Joe Moore.

The message referenced William Lewis, a 28-year-old photographer who had just moved to Chicago. Just one day earlier, Lewis had been killed by stray gang gunfire on the 1300 block of W. Devon Ave.

“I happened to be on Devon only a block from the shooting and heard the gunfire,” read Ald. Moore’s email to constituents. “I looked up to see the assailant, who appeared to be a teenager, continue to fire his weapon at a group of fleeing youths. It is something I will never forget.”

What Moore wrote next saddened our question-asker and piqued a morbid curiosity:

“Later that evening on our way to a neighborhood block party, my wife and I drove past the scene of the shooting and noticed that bloodstains remained on the sidewalk. We went to a nearby store to purchase some water, bleach and a brush to clean the sidewalk. By the time we returned, Milton, a resident of the building adjacent to the sidewalk, had already undertaken the grim task. We helped him finish the job.”

Peter Normand, a 36-year-old architect and resident of the 1900 block of W. Morse, was moved enough to ask Curious City:

Who cleans up the blood on sidewalks and playgrounds after shootings?

More at source: WBEZ

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