Earle J. Harris and his wife, Sylvia, were planning to move from Elgin this month because of what they perceived as escalating violence in the community.
A bid on their South State Street home, near the bluffs of the Fox River, was pending and they had picked out a house near East Dundee that seemed ideal for their needs.
But Tuesday night, their dream of a new life was shattered by a stray bullet that traveled about a block before entering the skull of Earle Harris, killing him as he worked at his custodial job at Elgin Academy, a private school.
Harris, 58, who was alone in the second-floor cafeteria when he was shot, was discovered by a fellow employee who had gone to check on him after hearing the gunfire. Harris died at the scene, police said.
Three men have been charged in the 6:15 p.m. shooting, which involved a dispute over a young girl, police said.
Esteban Torres, 18, of 362 Franklin Blvd., was charged with murder, armed violence and aggravated discharge of a firearm. Two of his friends, Lorenzo Soto, 18, and Epifanio Carachure, 29, also of the Franklin Street address, were charged with mob action and armed violence.
Two handguns, identified by police as .380-caliber automatic weapons, and a .22-caliber rifle were confiscated after the shooting, said Elgin police Lt. Carl Olsen. The bullet that killed Harris came from one of the handguns,
/police said.
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The incident began outside the house and more than 100 yards from the school, when Torres and a group of teenagers exchanged words over a 14-year-old girl he liked, Olsen said. The teenagers left, but came back about a half hour later and broke windows in the house and a pickup truck.
At that point, Torres and the two other men allegedly went outside with the guns and began firing into the air to frighten the teenagers, who then fled.
A bullet, allegedly from Torres` gun, hit Harris. The three men, however, apparently were unaware of that fact until told by investigators.
”The whole incident started over the affections of a young girl,” said Olsen, noting that police were attempting to identify and locate the teenagers.
”This poor guy is . . . in the middle of a cafeteria stacking chairs, and this thing strikes him in the head and he`s dead. It`s a very freak occurrence,” Olsen said.
Torres, who two years ago was involved in a shooting incident in Cook County that was ruled a justifiable homicide, was ordered held without bond in the Kane County Jail during a brief hearing Wednesday in Kane County Circuit Court. Soto and Carachure each were ordered held in lieu of $3 million bonds. As police continued their investigation, Harris` wife tried to come to grips with the fact that she had lost her husband to the type of random violence she had hoped to escape.
”It got to the point that it seemed like Elgin was getting too violent,” Sylvia Harris said during an interview at the home she had shared with her husband the past 12 years after the couple got married.
”He wasn`t afraid of anything. It was my concern,” she said, noting her husband had told her that on more than one occasion he had prevented attempted break-ins at the school.
She was quick to add, however, that she did not want what happened to her husband to reflect poorly on Elgin Academy, a 135-year-old elementary and high school serving 325 students.
”They took such good care of the kids there,” she said. ”He was so happy to be working there.”
Harris worked at a custodial firm in Elgin for six years before taking his 4 p.m.-to-midnight job as a custodial foreman at Elgin Academy in June 1990.
He was the city`s first homicide victim this year, police said. Last year, the city recorded five homicides, police said.
Academy Head Master Selden Edwards also had nothing but praise for Harris, whom he said was well-liked by both faculty and students at the school.
”He was a wonderful, outgoing and positive guy,” said Edwards. ”He was always willing to help.”
Harris had made many friends at the academy, especially the staff members and students he had helped enter the school after hours to retrieve items from their offices and lockers, Edwards said.
Edwards personally addressed his student body Wednesday morning to tell them about the shooting, and also talked to as many parents as he could to assure them the incident was an isolated one. Counselors also were available to talk to students, he said.
”We have been telling them the school is safe, and the police are confident about this neighborhood,” he said. ”I think everyone realizes the isolated nature of this one incident.
”It was just a completely freak accident that had nothing to do with the school,” Edwards said.
Besides his wife, Earle Harris is survived by a son, Earle R. Bennish;
two daughters, Cathy Hall and Julie Baukovac; two sisters; and four grandchildren.
Visitation will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday in the Laird Funeral Home, 310 S. State St., Elgin. Services will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday in the funeral home.