A day after a television repairman was fatally wounded by a stray bullet on the CTA’s No. 20 Madison bus, passengers on the same bus route had more on their minds than the usual concerns over missed buses and slow traffic.
As she boarded the bus Saturday evening at Madison and State Streets, Cheryl Hopkins asked the driver if her church meeting at the Rodeway Inn on Halsted Street and Madison was near where passenger Walter Stephenson, 49, was shot and killed. The driver assured her that the shooting occurred a good 50 blocks away.
“We just started coming this way [for church]. When I heard about it, I said, `Somebody got shot on the 20?'” Hopkins said.
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Stephenson was among a dozen passengers on the eastbound No. 20 bus when it pulled into a stop in the 5600 block of West Madison at 11:45 p.m. Friday. Between two and four gunmen outside opened fire on the bus as passengers were trying to board, officials said.
Stephenson was shot once in the head and was pronounced dead at Mt. Sinai Hospital shortly after midnight, police said.
The gunmen, who were still at large Saturday night, were firing at several other passengers when Stephenson was struck, police spokeswoman Alice Casanova said.
Despite some anxiety, passengers on the No. 20 said Saturday they plan to continue using the route because they have little choice.
“Yeah, I’m concerned, but I don’t have any other way to get back and forth to work,” said Lester Peebles, 44, who got off the bus Saturday night at Lavergne Avenue in the Austin neighborhood. “I have to keep using the bus. A lot of people do.”
But Kimberly Allen, 32, the No. 20 driver Saturday evening, might have a choice. She said she would request a new route because of Friday’s shooting.
“How do we know if [passengers] are carrying guns?” Allen said. “We don’t have metal detectors. And some neighborhoods are more dangerous than others.”
Meanwhile, Stephenson’s relatives, gathered Saturday at the family home in the 7500 block of South Dorchester Avenue, said they didn’t know why Stephenson was on the bus or where he was headed.
“It’s sad that he had to go this way, but he was ready,” said his brother, Roland Stephenson.
The victim was active at Fidelity Baptist Church on the South Side, his brother said.
“I’m praying that whoever did this [surrenders]. I’m praying for them and their families,” Roland Stephenson said. “The first response is to retaliate or be rebellious. That isn’t the way of life.”
Walter Stephenson, a graduate of Chicago’s Devry Institute of Technology, had toyed with electronics since he was a child, said his sister, Verlander Stephenson. He had previously worked as a technician for several electronics firms, including Northrop Grumman Corp. in California, before returning home several years ago, she said.
“It’s senseless, just totally senseless,” Verlander Stephenson said.