Man charged with murder in fatal shooting of Polish man on Easter Sunday

by CYRYL JAKUBOWSKI

A man was charged with first-degree murder in connection with the April 4 fatal shooting of 28-year-old Jakub Marchewka in a parking lot in the 3500 block of North Austin Avenue, according to the Chicago Police Department Office of News Affairs.

The man was arrested on May 20 in the 4000 block of West Melrose Street by members of the Great Lakes Fugitive Task Force and the Chicago Police Department, according to police. The man was identified through video surveillance as the offender who allegedly shot and killed Marchewka, police said.

The suspect was identified by police as Everardo Olmos, age 24, of the 600 block of North Springfield Avenue.

The shooting of the man led to an outpouring of support in April, particularly in the Polish community. Hundreds of people gathered for an anti-violence protest on April 18 in the 6000 block of West Addison Street near Austin Avenue where Marchewka was fatally shot.

Marchewka’s friend told Nadig Newspapers in April that there was a prayer before the protest and several speakers spoke including Jakub’s father, who was with him when he was slain on Easter Sunday. The speakers called for the end of senseless gun violence in Chicago. The friend said that the speakers were critical of Mayor Lori Lightfoot for the increase in crime in the city on her watch.

A fight that apparently began over damage to a car door turned into a homicide when Marchewka was fatally shot at about 4:20 p.m. on April 4 in a parking lot in the 3500 block of North Austin Avenue, according to police.

The father reported that a fight between his son and a man ensued in the parking lot following an argument in the store and that the man shot his son in the abdomen and fired a second shot that grazed his son’s face and then “pistol whipped the victim” on the ground and fled in a dark car with a woman, police said.

Alderman Gilbert Villegas (36th) said in April that he attended the protest because he wanted to show support for the Polish community mourning the loss of a “really good young man.”

“The outpouring of support for this young man demonstrates what kind of an effect he had on people’s lives.

“I did not know him, but when such a senseless crime happens it is very sad to see how it affects people and I wanted to be there to show support and say that we are here to help,” Villegas said.

Villegas said last month that it was his understanding that detectives knew who was involved in the shooting “but that they can’t locate him.”

“He’s a fugitive,” Villegas said.

William Swanson contributed to the original report about the April protest.

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