3 women found dead on North Side

By Emma Graves Fitzsimmons and John McCormick
Tribune staff reporters
Published February 17, 2007, 1:14 PM CST


Three women were killed in West Rogers Park this morning and a man believed to be involved in the "domestic-related" slayings was being treated at a local hospital, Chicago police said Saturday.

Officials said the women appeared to have died from blunt-force trauma, but declined to provide their names or ages. Two of the victims were found in a second-floor apartment in the 6400 block of North Washtenaw Avenue, while the third was discovered in an adjacent building in the 2600 block of West Arthur Avenue, also in a second-floor unit.

The suspect, meanwhile, is believed to be in his 50s and was arrested at the scene at about 7:30 a.m.

Police said they believe the man beat the women with some kind of heavy object. He then tried to take his own life with the instrument.

"He's coherent, but will be undergoing tests at the hospital for his head trauma," said police spokeswoman Monique Bond.

The incident started this morning and Bond said police are still trying to determine how the women are related. "There are some language barriers and we are trying to communicate with friends and family," she said.

Shim Bthyou, who has lived in the neighborhood for decades, said there are many Assyrians, an ethnic group of Christians largely from Iraq, Iran and Syria, who live in the area. "We've never had problems for all these years," he said.

Investigators were still searching the area for evidence early this afternoon and had not yet removed the bodies from the buildings.



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