The Chicago community is nervous as the police track down the man behind two seemingly random murders



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The investigators believe that the same man is behind the two murders – the victims were killed by the same gun and in the same way – and that the suspect lives in or near Rogers Park.

"The two shots were fired by the same gun and probably the same suspect," said Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson. "There is nothing on our side at the moment that indicates that these two people really know each other."

Douglas Watts, 73, was walking his dogs on September 30 when an armed man shot him in the head, police said. It was around 10 o'clock in the morning.

Ladi Ogunnunbi was going to the church shortly before Watts was killed and saw the suspect moving away from him. Ogunnubi had forgotten something and went home, he said.

"I ran back to get it back and when I came back, a minute or two later, I started seeing cops and a little chaos," he said. "It could have been me."

The video shows the alleged assailant, dressed in dark clothes, darkened face, running in an alley with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his jacket. The footage of the man reveals little, apart from his curious approach. Authorities noted that the suspect was walking barefoot.

Witnesses described the suspect as a lightly-built black man, Chicago police said.

The following night, about 800 meters from where Watts was killed, Eliyahu Moscowitz, 24, was on a trail in Loyola Park when he was also shot in the head, announced the police. The witnesses who heard the shot rushed to the scene and found Moscowitz face down on the road.

A teenager victim of violence in Chicago killed

The wallets and cell phones of the men were taken. Some residents fear that since Watts is gay and Moscowitz is Jewish, the murders could be hate crimes.

Although Chicago is known for its gun violence, Rogers Park is generally not his place of residence.

Its tree-lined streets are located along Lake Michigan and are home to a large Orthodox Jewish community and students from Loyola University in Chicago. The neighborhood is known for intense pedestrian traffic, especially on Saturdays, when Jews honor the Sabbath.

The shootings left the residents on the edge. Cleveland Hughes took the time to talk to CNN and said he was trying to finish his drills as quickly as possible.

"If you've seen me running, I'm trying to get him in and out as quickly as possible," he said.

Virginia Strain, who lives near Loyola Park, told CNN affiliate WLS that the lack of response to date has made the killings even more frightening.

"It's terrifying to see that there is no obvious explanation for that," she told the station. "There is no obvious target, you can not do anything, there is no group that we can protect and there is no particular way to to protect us. "

Alderman Joe Moore, representing Rogers Park, told residents in a letter last week that detectives were working tirelessly to find the murderer. They knock on doors and watch surveillance images of the area, as well as commuter trains and buses, he writes.

Forty detectives were assigned to the case and a large number of officers and teams were assigned to the Rogers Park patrol, said Chicago Police spokesman Michael Carroll. .

Tactical officers from the city's gang and drug units have been brought in, and the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are participating in the investigation.

"We are walking on our streets and enjoying our beautiful lakefront," Moore wrote. "We bike and walk our dogs and spend time talking and getting to know our neighbors.In many ways, we are a small town in the big city, we can not let a disturbed and disturbed person # 39; remove ".

The Jewish United Fund paid $ 10,000 to reward the information that led to the arrest, and the ATF paid $ 5,000. A community activist and Cook County, Crime Stoppers, offered an additional $ 3,000.

Scott McLean and Amanda Watts of CNN contributed to this report.

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