Ald. Ray Lopez Victimized By Vandals For Fourth Time

CHICAGO — Ald. Ray Lopez's Brighton Park ward office was struck by vandals Thursday for the fourth time this year.

Since summer, vandals have smashed the front windows of Ald. Ray Lopez's condo, and set his neighbor's garage on fire.

The similar attack Thursday night, marked the third time someone broke windows at the ward boss's Southwest Side office.

Around 10:50 p.m., vandals threw bricks through the window of his office in the 2700 block of West 47th Street and fled, police said.

Video shows three people throwing bricks through windows.

The Brighton Park office had been closed for two weeks as Lopez prepares to move the 15th Ward office to a new location.

Since June, Lopez has been in a feud with neighborhood gang members. On Friday, Lopez told Patch, he's "99-percent" sure the Thursday night vandals were "gang bangers" upset about his continued push to oust them from the neighborhood.

In July, the alderman called out "thugs and enablers" responsible for a "brazen front-door attack" on his home, which he said was the work of "cowards ... meant to intimidate me."

Lopez called on residents to help "cast them out like cockroaches when the light switch is turned on."

"We must not only go after the gangs but those who shelter them; the absentee landlords who do not care who rents their apartments as long as they're getting their money," Lopez said in July.

"They, too share this responsibility and owe it to the neighborhood to step up and address their gang tenants."

A frequent critic of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Lopez criticized City Hall's policing strategy that he says focuses too much on Downtown, leaving neighborhoods like his vulnerable to criminals who know "they have the upper hand with our districts short officers."