* Circle Prayer held for Stanley Butler

Photo and Story by Julie Seagraves

Ceasefire held a Circle Prayer Wednesday for Stanley Butler who was shot Saturday morning when he opened the door to his family’s garden apartment. About thirty neighbors and friends attended to show their support for Butler and his family.

Butler was shot multiple times, twice in the head, twice in the chest and once in the arm in his Rogers Park home, by offenders who are still at large.

Ben Perrin, a childhood friend of Butler’s, came to the event to speak on behalf of Butler’s wife, Keisha.

“He is not a gang banger, he is not a drug dealer! He is a good father and a good friend,” he told the gathering.

Perrin was disturbed that he is being characterized as a gang member. He said the police continuously asked Butler’s wife if he was in a gang or dealing drugs, though she repeatedly told them he wasn’t.

“He worked at Jiffy Lube,” Perrin told the neighbors, “he probably worked on your car.”

Perrin was upset that Butler’s wife is not getting the support from the police that she should. He believes this is because they think the shooting is gang related.

According to Perrin, Butler’s sister called him that day because she was having trouble with some people and she needed his help. Butler answered his sister’s call because “that’s the kind of person he is. If you need help he’ll give it to you.”

As reported by the police, he got into an altercation with these people in Evanston, but left there without incident. Later, as his wife and three children were sitting at the dining room table, there was a knock at the door that changed their lives forever.

Keisha Butler said the children saw the whole thing. “My three year old is terrified. He calls it the house with monsters in it.” The children are currently staying with her mother.

Mrs. Butler echoed Perrin’s concerns about the police.

“Since I was a witness they brought me to the police station to question me.” Her husband had been taken to the hospital in critical condition.

“I was there for about 2 hours. I kept asking if we could continue this at the hospital so I could be with my husband.”

The police refused her request and said “no, it has to be done here.”

Perrin said he called the news media to try to get some attention drawn to this matter. He told the group, “CLTV said ‘If it was gang or drug related we’d be there in a second, but not for a domestic incident."

Though police have told Mrs. Butler that they have someone under arrest, they will not reveal the identity of that person and continue to press her for information.

Officer Kubiak, of News Affairs, said they have not been notified of an arrest by Area 3.

One neighbor at the gathering said it’s sad, “we walk by people everyday, but we don’t just come out of our houses and get together and talk to each other. It takes something like this before we get to know one another."

Another neighbor volunteered that she had been a victim of a crime in her home as well, and told Mrs. Butler if “there’s anything you need please let me know.”

Others expressed their desire to be the kind of neighbors who get involved and help when needed.

Mrs. Butler thanked them for their support, but told them, “We’re moving.”

With her husband in the hospital, she is now the sole wage earner in the family. A friend told her about the Cook County Victim Assistance program, and she indicated she will probably have to take advantage of their services, which include relocation assistance.

Her husband’s condition has been upgraded to stable after undergoing surgery at Illinois Masonic Hospital.