Chicago Week in Photos: Hit-And-Run, Via Crucis & More

Cherry blossoms drew crowds to Jackson Park last weekend. Elsewhere across the city, a grieving father bore his son’s name in ink on his skull, hundreds filled a Southwest Side street in mourning and prayer, and a top cop faced hard questions from residents who don’t trust his department.

A week in Chicago.

Damian Gomez was killed in a hit-and-run at 63rd Street and Kedzie Avenue. His father, Will Gomez, has the teenager’s name tattooed on his head. That’s the kind of grief that doesn’t need explanation. On April 8, members of the Gage Park Cyclists gathered in Chicago Lawn to light candles in Damian’s memory, part of a wave of anger rolling through Southwest Side neighborhoods over reckless driving that residents say has gone unaddressed for too long.

The stretch of road where Damian was struck sits in a part of the city that doesn’t always make the front page. Gage Park. Chicago Lawn. Bridgeport. These are working neighborhoods where people bike because they have to, not because it’s a lifestyle choice. And they’re dying for it.

Family members and neighbors have been sounding the alarm about dangerous driving conditions on Southwest Side streets. No arrests have been announced in Damian’s death.

A few miles away, Little Village held its annual Via Crucis procession on April 3. Hundreds of residents packed 26th Street and spilled onto the sidewalks outside Epiphany Roman Catholic Church at 2524 S. Keeler Ave., reenacting the Stations of the Cross in a tradition that draws the neighborhood together every year before Easter. This year carried extra weight. Little Village has endured a hard stretch, and the procession served as something more than ceremony. It was a public act of communal resilience.

The Via Crucis is one of those Chicago rituals that rarely gets the attention it deserves outside the neighborhood. Thousands show up. Families bring children. Old men stand on corners in dress shirts. It matters.

On April 5, Jackson Park was a different kind of gathering. The cherry blossom trees along the Columbia Basin near the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry reached full bloom, and Hyde Park residents turned out with cameras and kids. Spring arrived on schedule for once. The park sits on the lakefront at the edge of one of the city’s most storied neighborhoods, and on a warm April Saturday it looked exactly like what Chicago can be when it isn’t trying too hard.

The week had its bureaucratic moments too. Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling appeared April 2 at Kelly High School for a Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability meeting. Demonstrators were present. Snelling denied that Chicago Police officers assisted ICE agents in any operations, telling the crowd the department is “trying to keep people safe.” The room wasn’t entirely convinced. The commission, created under the city’s 2021 police oversight ordinance, gives residents a formal venue to press department leadership, and residents used it.

Snelling’s denial came amid ongoing national tension over immigration enforcement and local law enforcement cooperation. Chicago has maintained a sanctuary city policy for years, but trust between immigrant communities and police doesn’t get rebuilt in a single meeting.

High above Michigan Avenue, workers on April 8 were replacing windows on the 95th floor of 360 Chicago at 875 N. Michigan Ave., the former Signature Room space that has been empty since the restaurant closed. At least one peregrine falcon was spotted circling the building as crews worked. The Hancock tower’s upper floors are getting a makeover, though what comes next for the space hasn’t been finalized.

Down at street level, the South Loop railyard was photographed from South Canal Street on April 6, part of ongoing coverage around the question of whether two new sports stadiums could reshape that part of the city. Neighbors have plenty of opinions.

That’s Chicago in one week. A father’s tattoo. Candles on a sidewalk. Hundreds praying on 26th Street. Cherry blossoms in Hyde Park. A superintendent on the defensive. A falcon on the 95th floor.

Additional reporting from this week was captured by photographers and reporters at Block Club Chicago, whose visual coverage documented scenes from across the city’s neighborhoods throughout the week.