https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2022/5/25/23141021/walking-man-fire-wabash-joseph-kromelis

A homeless man well known for walking the streets of the Loop was critically injured when he was set on fire while sleeping on Lower Wabash Avenue early Wednesday — almost six years to the day after he was viciously beaten in downtown Chicago.

Joseph Kromelis, 75 — known as “The Walking Man” and “The Walking Dude” — was lying on the ground in the 400 block of North Lower Wabash when someone walked up, poured a flammable liquid on him and lit it, police said.

A security officer from a nearby building used a fire extinguisher to put the fire out. Kromelis suffered third-degree burns to 65% of his body and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in critical condition.

The attacker was seen on surveillance video going to the Clark and Lake CTA station and taking a Blue Line train toward O’Hare. An alert issued by police Wednesday afternoon described the suspect as a tall male with a medium light complexion and wearing a black and white “Hoodrich” jacket and gray sandals.

Officials said Kromelis suffered severe burns and his chances of surviving them were not considered good.

“We were just told he’s most likely to die,” one law enforcement source said. He was identified through prescriptions found in his pocket.

Kromelis is well known to people who frequent downtown Chicago, easily recognized by his tall frame, striking facial features, long flowing hair and bushy mustache.

Six years ago — on May 24, 2016 — he was brutally beaten by someone with a baseball bat in the 400 block of East Lower Wacker Drive.The two were struggling over the bat when police arrived.

He was taken to Northwestern then too and was treated for cuts and other injuries to his head and legs. Thousands of dollars were raised on his behalf through GoFundMe appeals.

Janice Riggs launched a GoFundMe campaign for Kromelis in 2016 and was “utterly horrified” when she learned of the latest attack.

“It’s bad enough that we have people who sleep under Wacker Drive every night,” she said. “But the idea that there are people walking the streets of Chicago right now that think that setting a man on fire is a fun pastime or a worthwhile thing to do is — abhorrent doesn’t even come close, it’s inhumane.”

Riggs did not know Kromelis personally but was always happy to see him out and about in the city. “It didn’t matter where you were in the city, you’d run into him somewhere,” Riggs said. “He was a fixture, he was part of our lives.”

Relatives said he moved to Chicago with his family from Lithuania when he was a kid and grew up above a bar his parents ran on Halsted Street. His parents sold the tavern and moved to southwestern Michigan when he was about 19.

Kromelis stayed in Chicago, where he got a peddler's license and sold jewelry on the street and began wandering the streets of the Loop.

“We always worried ... because he was on the street all the time,” his sister-in-law said at the time. “He just likes walking.”

Wow. Yeah extremely unlikely he will survive with 65% 3rd degree burns. At that level your flesh is like fried chicken. Those are some extremely sadistic perps. Hope they catch them.

Sick fucks.  That’s horrible.

People are nuts.  It would help if the guy didn't live on the streets.

An aside:  "Walking Dude" had me thinking of The Stand.  (Sure does feel like the End Times)

Fucks be upon the perp.

The fuck is wrong with people these days? Just some Evil fucking scum out there.

Black

Peddlers license and sold jewelry. Wonder if he sold something fake that the attacker thought was real.

If the video showed a white perp, they'd have said so. Since it didn't, we get a word salad description.

https://youtu.be/Jhv3mj1UUKU

Used to enjoy catching a random glimpse of this guy when I worked as a field producer in Chicago, 2003-2005.  Somebody made the above video about that time!  He was like the walking Forest Gump of The Loop.

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Well at least it is not a hate crime.  That only works one way.

From walking man to burning man.
Poor bastard.
May whatever happens next to him be as painless as possible.

They seemed to be able to describe everything else though.


So you can kind of guess what "light complexion" is.

If only they could review cell phone locations, maybe they could solve some crimes. You know, if they actually wanted to solve crimes.

Northwestern is a top tier hospital.  I doubt he's feeling anything right now.  Poor guy.

Yes you do .

Umm...if you're buying jewelry from a homeless guy...are you really going to believe it's authentic?

Is this that white nationalist terrorism that they're talking about being so horrible and a threat to democracy?

White African-American. I have heard Black folks describe other blacks as such.

Lite skin’d.

Horrible.

Seems as though it's getting worse by the day, but then again, maybe our attention is just being drawn to it more and more...for some reason.
These kinds of things and recent events just remind me to keep my eyes open; shit happens randomly anywhere.

2% earning that 50%.

But it's guns that are the problem.

Biden presser this afternoon.
Just kidding

I wasn't familiar with a "Hoodrich" jacket.  This came up during the search.

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Summer of Love 2022 is gonna be awesome

Me neither

Picture of suspect

https://cwbchicago.com/2022/05/police-ask-help-finding-attacker-who-set-beloved-walking-man-on-fire-in-river-north.html

The offender

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Gotta be careful up there. That's MAGA country!

obviously, a gun made that young man with a promising future set a homeless person on fire. /s

Chicago Police catching a criminal!! That's classic!

Do you have a Netflix special coming up we could watch?

We catch plenty of them. Kim Foxx lets them out.

COC prevents me from saying what I think. But yeah there are some sick sorry pos out there today. I wonder what political part they are affiliated with. FJB and the criminal justice ?? system that let's these criminals go. To set a human being on fire is beyond insane.

Very true words.

Imagine how fucking evil you have to be to do that to some poor old homeless man.

Shit is rampant in this country and why I will fucking die before I give up my shit yo.

Who commits attempted murder in socks and sandals?

hell, thats good enough reason to BBQ him

Wonder what was done with the guy who attacked him with the baseball bat.

I watched what they do to burn patients when doing clinicals. They had a room that was pretty much lined with stainless steel. With a big drain in the center of room in the floor. In middle of room was a stainless steel chair and table. They'd sedate patient and cut, scrub loose all the burnt and dead skin off of patient. I couldn't watch it but for a few minutes. I litterally had to get out of room. I thought I was going to pass out and I've seen some horrible things. But what they do to people burnt is unbelievable. They then hose everything down drain. But if they do not remove all the dead skin it increases chances of infection. I was told sometimes they have a hard time sedating people because they have to be careful because of severity of burn when giving meds. Too much and it could kill them in the weaken state they are in. So some are conscious during this procedure

To do that to another human is just plain evil

Fuck no. Everyone knows the authentic shit comes out of the trunk of a caddy.

Stroger has an actual burn unit.

Chicago.

Yawn.

Burn the whole city down and try again…

Or out of an overcoat - which is a sign of authenticity and wealth. Not a homeless guy!

Code words.

I saw him regularly when I worked in the Loop in the late 80s.  He shaved his head and wore mirror shades back then.

Perhaps the police might need more to go on than just a black man.

with the footwear the perp was wearing I'm going to venture a guess that he didn't get there by CTA train.  I'm going with Marina Towers.