Ruby, you were right. Pedestrian isnt so bad....the alternative is this:
chicago tribune link
if the link doesnt work, go to www.chicagotribune.com, then on the left choose "local news," then the third link down "prosecuters tell details of attack"
Prosecutors tell details of attack
2 suspects beat, kicked UIC student, authorities say
Advertisement
By Brett McNeil and Josh Noel, Tribune staff reporters. Tribune staff
reporter Liam Ford contributed to this report
July 11, 2005
It was supposed to be a carefree summer spent soaking up as much of the sun and the city as he could when he wasn't waiting tables and cracking bad jokes.
On break from classes at the University of Illinois at Chicago and planning to study abroad next school year, Tombol Malik was intent on enjoying one of his final student summers the way many young people do, friends said.
"He was young. He was in college. He was hanging out with his friends," said Eileen Black, 35, who worked with Malik in The Grill Room in downtown Chicago.
But all that changed in what authorities have described as a seemingly unprovoked and savagely violent beating early Saturday that left Malik, 23, of the 3300 block of South Lowe Avenue, dead and two other college students charged in his slaying.
On Sunday, authorities detailed for the first time at a bond hearing how Malik, a tall, thin man whom friends described as an unfailingly gentle pacifist, was beaten to death with his own bicycle lock during an attack on a cobblestone cul-de-sac near UIC.
According to prosecutors, Malik and his lifelong friend, Anthony Popelka, actually offered to help the two suspects when they came upon them outside a
high-rise condo building in the 1500 block of South Sangamon Street, just south of the UIC campus. One of the suspects, Mantas Matulis, 20, of the 8000 block of Alabama Avenue, Clarendon Hills, was bleeding from a head wound near his ear, and Popelka asked if he was OK, prosecutors said.
After telling Popelka to "mind your own [expletive] business," Matulis and Muaz Haffer, 21, of the 8200 block of Lake Ridge Drive, Burr Ridge, attacked Malik and Popelka, prosecutors said.
Haffer, a Hinsdale South High School graduate whose lawyer said has no previous criminal record and is on the honor roll at Benedictine University in Lisle, first punched Malik, then grabbed the lock from Malik's bicycle and used it to bludgeon him in the head, prosecutors allege.
Matulis, a Hinsdale South graduate and native of Lithuania who attends the College of DuPage, pushed Popelka to the ground and shocked him with a stun gun, prosecutors allege.
Struck repeatedly in the head, Malik collapsed to the ground and apparently went limp, prosecutors said. He was no longer able to defend himself or block the blows of the bike lock as Haffer continued hammering away,
prosecutors said.
As Malik lay on the cul-de-sac, Matulis is alleged to have kicked him in the head. Matulis and Haffer then stood over and taunted Malik, said Assistant Cook County State's Atty. Brendan Curran.
Before fleeing the scene as private security guards approached, Haffer stood over Popelka and said, "Remember this face," prosecutors said.
Police apprehended Haffer and Matulis about 10 minutes later near Halsted and 15th Streets, and a bloody bike lock and stun gun were recovered, Curran
said. The security guards later identified the two as Malik's attackers, according to Curran.
Haffer and Matulis both were charged Sunday with first-degree murder and aggravated battery. Judge Maura Slattery Boyle ordered them held in lieu of
$900,000 bail at a hearing where both men appeared via closed-circuit TV from inside Cook County Jail.
Cook County Assistant Public Defender Suzanne McEneely, who represented Matulis on Sunday, said her client acted in self-defense. She said Matulis,
who moved to the United States about five years ago and works as a pizza delivery driver, sustained cuts on his hands and head. He was also struck in the back of the head with a bike lock, McEneely said.
Joe Skala, 20, of unincorporated Hinsdale, who went to high school with the suspects, said Matulis has been a friend since he came to the U.S. and called him "a really good kid."
"Sometimes he'd get in a bit of trouble, but something like this is by far out of his league," Skala said.
Haffer's attorney, Steven Saltzman, told the judge that his client is a good student from "a very strong family." Haffer's father, Nabil, is a doctor, and his sister is studying medicine at Rush University Medical School,
Saltzman said.
Haffer and Matulis were staying with Haffer's sister at her University Village condominium on the night of the attack, McEneely said.
Nabil Haffer attended the bond hearing but declined to speak with reporters afterward. Matulis' mother, Inga, also declined to speak with reporters after the hearing.
Curran argued that the attack was an act of wanton cruelty and sought to have Haffer and Matulis held without bail. As Curran presented the case, Haffer and Matulis shook their heads several times in disagreement.
Both men appeared visibly relieved when Boyle approved bail after deciding that prosecutors did not meet the burden of proof for wanton cruelty after Curran could not say how many times Malik was struck during the beating.
Popelka, who was recuperating Sunday at home, said he met Malik when he was 3 years old and they were neighbors in a Hyde Park apartment complex.
Citing the advice of attorneys, Popelka declined to discuss any details of the attack but agreed to talk about a friend he considers as close as a brother.
"He was a stand-up guy, and anyone who knew him felt honored to know him," said Popelka, 23, whose head injuries required staples to close, according to prosecutors.
"We were both pretty much pacifists," Popelka said. "He wasn't violent at all. He's the last person you would think would die this way."
Near a makeshift memorial of flowers propped up in a Gatorade bottle, a small group of Malik's co-workers gathered Sunday afternoon inside the Sangamon cul-de-sac to remember a gentle friend with a goofy sense of humor.
"Me and him would go back and forth with the worst jokes in the world," chuckled Ian McMahon, 24, who until about a month ago worked with Malik at the Park Grill in Millennium Park. "We would make up `momma' jokes on the spot. Just dumb jokes."
Eileen Black, Malik's co-worker at The Grill Room, a part-time job he had only recently started, said a restaurant supervisor told Malik he needed to be more forceful on the job--but he just wasn't wired that way.
"He was just a nice, soft guy," she said.
RIP Tombol
chicago tribune link
if the link doesnt work, go to www.chicagotribune.com, then on the left choose "local news," then the third link down "prosecuters tell details of attack"
Prosecutors tell details of attack
2 suspects beat, kicked UIC student, authorities say
Advertisement
By Brett McNeil and Josh Noel, Tribune staff reporters. Tribune staff
reporter Liam Ford contributed to this report
July 11, 2005
It was supposed to be a carefree summer spent soaking up as much of the sun and the city as he could when he wasn't waiting tables and cracking bad jokes.
On break from classes at the University of Illinois at Chicago and planning to study abroad next school year, Tombol Malik was intent on enjoying one of his final student summers the way many young people do, friends said.
"He was young. He was in college. He was hanging out with his friends," said Eileen Black, 35, who worked with Malik in The Grill Room in downtown Chicago.
But all that changed in what authorities have described as a seemingly unprovoked and savagely violent beating early Saturday that left Malik, 23, of the 3300 block of South Lowe Avenue, dead and two other college students charged in his slaying.
On Sunday, authorities detailed for the first time at a bond hearing how Malik, a tall, thin man whom friends described as an unfailingly gentle pacifist, was beaten to death with his own bicycle lock during an attack on a cobblestone cul-de-sac near UIC.
According to prosecutors, Malik and his lifelong friend, Anthony Popelka, actually offered to help the two suspects when they came upon them outside a
high-rise condo building in the 1500 block of South Sangamon Street, just south of the UIC campus. One of the suspects, Mantas Matulis, 20, of the 8000 block of Alabama Avenue, Clarendon Hills, was bleeding from a head wound near his ear, and Popelka asked if he was OK, prosecutors said.
After telling Popelka to "mind your own [expletive] business," Matulis and Muaz Haffer, 21, of the 8200 block of Lake Ridge Drive, Burr Ridge, attacked Malik and Popelka, prosecutors said.
Haffer, a Hinsdale South High School graduate whose lawyer said has no previous criminal record and is on the honor roll at Benedictine University in Lisle, first punched Malik, then grabbed the lock from Malik's bicycle and used it to bludgeon him in the head, prosecutors allege.
Matulis, a Hinsdale South graduate and native of Lithuania who attends the College of DuPage, pushed Popelka to the ground and shocked him with a stun gun, prosecutors allege.
Struck repeatedly in the head, Malik collapsed to the ground and apparently went limp, prosecutors said. He was no longer able to defend himself or block the blows of the bike lock as Haffer continued hammering away,
prosecutors said.
As Malik lay on the cul-de-sac, Matulis is alleged to have kicked him in the head. Matulis and Haffer then stood over and taunted Malik, said Assistant Cook County State's Atty. Brendan Curran.
Before fleeing the scene as private security guards approached, Haffer stood over Popelka and said, "Remember this face," prosecutors said.
Police apprehended Haffer and Matulis about 10 minutes later near Halsted and 15th Streets, and a bloody bike lock and stun gun were recovered, Curran
said. The security guards later identified the two as Malik's attackers, according to Curran.
Haffer and Matulis both were charged Sunday with first-degree murder and aggravated battery. Judge Maura Slattery Boyle ordered them held in lieu of
$900,000 bail at a hearing where both men appeared via closed-circuit TV from inside Cook County Jail.
Cook County Assistant Public Defender Suzanne McEneely, who represented Matulis on Sunday, said her client acted in self-defense. She said Matulis,
who moved to the United States about five years ago and works as a pizza delivery driver, sustained cuts on his hands and head. He was also struck in the back of the head with a bike lock, McEneely said.
Joe Skala, 20, of unincorporated Hinsdale, who went to high school with the suspects, said Matulis has been a friend since he came to the U.S. and called him "a really good kid."
"Sometimes he'd get in a bit of trouble, but something like this is by far out of his league," Skala said.
Haffer's attorney, Steven Saltzman, told the judge that his client is a good student from "a very strong family." Haffer's father, Nabil, is a doctor, and his sister is studying medicine at Rush University Medical School,
Saltzman said.
Haffer and Matulis were staying with Haffer's sister at her University Village condominium on the night of the attack, McEneely said.
Nabil Haffer attended the bond hearing but declined to speak with reporters afterward. Matulis' mother, Inga, also declined to speak with reporters after the hearing.
Curran argued that the attack was an act of wanton cruelty and sought to have Haffer and Matulis held without bail. As Curran presented the case, Haffer and Matulis shook their heads several times in disagreement.
Both men appeared visibly relieved when Boyle approved bail after deciding that prosecutors did not meet the burden of proof for wanton cruelty after Curran could not say how many times Malik was struck during the beating.
Popelka, who was recuperating Sunday at home, said he met Malik when he was 3 years old and they were neighbors in a Hyde Park apartment complex.
Citing the advice of attorneys, Popelka declined to discuss any details of the attack but agreed to talk about a friend he considers as close as a brother.
"He was a stand-up guy, and anyone who knew him felt honored to know him," said Popelka, 23, whose head injuries required staples to close, according to prosecutors.
"We were both pretty much pacifists," Popelka said. "He wasn't violent at all. He's the last person you would think would die this way."
Near a makeshift memorial of flowers propped up in a Gatorade bottle, a small group of Malik's co-workers gathered Sunday afternoon inside the Sangamon cul-de-sac to remember a gentle friend with a goofy sense of humor.
"Me and him would go back and forth with the worst jokes in the world," chuckled Ian McMahon, 24, who until about a month ago worked with Malik at the Park Grill in Millennium Park. "We would make up `momma' jokes on the spot. Just dumb jokes."
Eileen Black, Malik's co-worker at The Grill Room, a part-time job he had only recently started, said a restaurant supervisor told Malik he needed to be more forceful on the job--but he just wasn't wired that way.
"He was just a nice, soft guy," she said.
RIP Tombol
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