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Rhonda Barrett says that she stopped her car, stunned, when she learned that an armed man had killed her ex-fiancé, then a Chicago policeman and a pharmacist at the time of the accident. 39, a shooting in a hospital in Near South Side last week. [19659002] Just four days before the shooting at the Mercy Hospital and Medical Center, Barrett had filed a complaint with the Commission for Equality of Employment, claiming that she was at Several times harassed by gunman Juan Lopez, while the two were working together at the Chicago Housing Authority, according to his lawyers and a deposit in the case.
Now, Barrett is suing the CHA, accusing him of "deliberate negligence" in hiring Lopez, although he was fired from the Chicago Firefighters Academy a few years ago. previously after being accused of verbally and physically abusing women.
"His firing at the Fire Academy … predicted his public conduct at the CHA," says the lawsuit filed last Thursday before the Cook County Circuit Court. The conduct included "swearing in front of the employees and the public (Barrett), physically intimidating her, touching her shoulders and pressing her on her body, using her legs to reach out and touch the complainant. "
Lopez then falsely accused her. sexual harassment and she was fired, according to the lawsuit. "The CHA's conduct regarding the plaintiff's improper dismissal was intentional and gratuitous, in that it never investigated the veracity of Juan Lopez's character or his ability to be honest."
In a statement, CHA stated that it had not been informed of the lawsuit "and so we can not comment."
The allegations are similar to those made against the US government. other women in the last four years, including her ex-wife who had obtained a protection order at the end of 2014.
The ex-wife told a judge that Lopez according to the transcripts of 39, a hearing for an emergency protection order, threatened a neighbor with a firearm and pointed a gun at a real estate agent and threatened to kill her if she did not leave her building.
Earlier that year, at least one rookie from the fire academy accused Lop ez of hitting her or hitting her on purpose. The fire department's internal affairs division documented that Lopez "had some sort of incident" with four of the eleven trainees in his class.
Lopez was fired in May 2014 while the investigation continued after he stopped attending classes. According to officials, he threatened to shoot at the academy at that time.
"If I get fired, I will shoot at this place," said Lopez, according to a firefighter who heard him. . Ministry officials said his superiors were aware of his remarks, but nothing in his file and no charges were laid.
READ MORE: Inquiry: The shooter at Mercy Hospital was "hated" at the shooting academy, described as presenting himself "perverted" "
He is difficult to know if the internal affairs files, published by the city last week in response to a request for access to information, were available to the CHA or revised by it before the 39, hiring Lopez. 19659002] Martin Stack, a Barrett lawyer, announced his intention to assign all Lopez working papers to the assignment, including to the fire academy, to determine what the ACH knew when she hired Lopez. "I'm sure the ACS needed to know," he said.
In a statement released the day after the shooting, the ACH said it was not there. had "no history of complaints" about Lopez when he was working for the agency.
In his interview with Tribune, Barrett said that she had been complaining about Lopez since at least July.
Although her relationship with Lopez was initially cordial, she quickly turned to vilification and violence, she says in the lawsuit, "without provocation, he turned his unstable agitation into a plaintiff," he says. the trial "Lopez physically imposed herself on the plaintiff by invading her personal space."
In an interview, Barrett told the Tribune that she had reported Lopez's behavior to at least three supervisors. I wondered, "What's in his sleeve," Barrett said. "My mind did not feel right around Juan Lopez. … I went to see my boss in tears. "
READ MORE: The shooter from the Mercy Hospital was expelled from the fire academy:" He had problems. He did not understand well.
Lopez charged Barrett with sexual harassment and, "on parole only, the HCA terminated his duties," the lawsuit says.
Barrett also claims in the lawsuit that she was a victim of sexual harassment even before working with Lopez, she stated that she was sexually abused by a supervisor shortly after her hiring in 2015. The supervisor Was also exposed, had reported to Barrett and sent him inappropriate texts, According to the complaint, Barrett reported these complaints, but the supervisor resigned before the end of the investigation, says the trial.
Barrett stated that he was targeted by another supervisor with poor performance appraisals and he complained to the Personnel Director, who reassigned him. The move took place only after his father, the famous South Side pastor, TL Barrett, had agreed to ratify the director for a promotion, according to the lawsuit.
rett then found herself working with Lopez last summer and, in September, she was fired after the CHA had spoken out of an "unstable employee", says the trial.
READ MORE: The shooter of Mercy Hospital interned for alderman "
Three months later, police announced that Lopez had gone to the hospital parking lot Mercy on November 19 and had confronted her fiancee, Dr. Tamara O. Neal, who was working in the emergency room.
He wanted his engagement turned around and they started arguing, police said. O'Neal called 911 and Lopez pulled out a gun and fired. She fell and he stood on it and shot again. He then shot at the Chicago Police Officer, Samuel Jimenez, on his arrival at the scene and the pharmacist Dayna Less, while she was coming out of an elevator, before a Another officer shot him in the stomach and he shot himself in the head. All four are dead.
O. Neal's family told The Tribune that she had canceled the engagement a few weeks ago.
The lawsuit indicates that Barrett was not only the victim of Lopez's abusive behavior, but also the victim to properly screen employees. The CHA "unscrupulous and with deliberate and reckless abandonment did not properly supervise the hiring and then the behavior of Juan Lopez".
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