CHICAGO — The CEO of a homeless-advocacy organization called Monday’s deadly massacre aboard a Chicago Transit Authority train a tragedy the organization sees play out too often and said she considered one of the victims “family.”
Betty Bogg of Connections for the Homeless got to know 64-year-old Margaret Miller as a former resident of their hotel-based shelter during the early days of the Coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s a personal loss for us. This is not the first time we’ve lost someone to violence, or just the extreme vulnerability people have when they are unhoused,” Bogg said. “Everyone deserves a safe decent place to live, so you don’t have to sleep on a train.”
Bogg said she and colleagues find comfort in knowing they were able to at one time help Miller, recalling the joy Miller showed with having a roof over her head. She said learning Miller’s life ended the way it did is something no words can describe.
“This is particularly violent and heinous and awful,” Bogg said. “It is not a situation that we are unfamiliar with to lose someone who is part of our own family.”
The shelter plans to hold its annual remembrance ceremony near the end of this month.
Also slain Monday were Simeon Bihesi, 28; Adrian Collins, 60; and a 52-year-old man who remains publicly unnamed. The person accused of killing the four was ordered detained during an initial court appearance Wednesday. The judge described the case “horrific and appalling.”