Evanston shelter mourns Blue Line victims, reaffirms its mission

Just over three weeks after four people were killed on a Blue Line train early Labor Day morning, a shelter held a memorial service for the victims and expressed hope their loss will lead to change.

Around 50 people gathered for the service Tuesday, hosted by Connections for the Homeless at Lake Street Church in Evanston. While the organization hosts an annual memorial to mourn the lives lost of those involved with the group, it was a unique event this year. A former beneficiary of the group’s services, Margaret Miller Johnson, was one of the victims killed in the mass shooting.

“Without explanation or obvious motive, a gunman took the lives of these four people,” Pastor Monté Dillard, Connections for the Homeless board president, said during the service. He issued a call to action: Mourn, but work to guarantee this incident doesn’t happen again.

“It will be up to us to hold their memories in our hearts,” he said, “and to hold our society accountable for the violence done to all those who struggle to put a roof over their heads in the richest country on our Earth.”

Rhanni Davis, 30, allegedly shot four passengers, all of whom were sleeping on the Blue Line train on Sept. 2, police said. The victims were Johnson, 64; Adrian Collins, 60; Sean Jones, 52; and Simeon Bihesi, 28. All are believed to have been unhoused and using the train night for shelter that night.

Dillard was joined by Connections CEO Betty Bogg and two of Johnson’s sisters, Mary Ann Sallee and Eliza R. Brodbelt. Both sisters declined to speak to the media, and Brodbelt was visibly emotional as speakers remembered her sister.

At a press conference before the service, Bogg said Johnson’s story didn't match the stereotype of unhoused people.

“Margaret was a graduate of Valparaiso University with a degree in accounting. She was a very intelligent, articulate woman,” Bogg told reporters. “And I take away from this that this can happen to anybody.”

Johnson first interacted with Connections in 2019 when she and her husband were living out of their truck and was able to secure housing with its help in 2020. The organization was surprised she was on the Blue Line sleeping that night, since staff did not know she was again unhoused.

Though sleeping on CTA trains is a more appealing option than sleeping outdoors for unhoused people, Bogg said, it’s still unsafe. Without more shelter options, safety can’t be guaranteed for the approximately 5,000 people the organization works with each year.

“Any of those people could be victimized,” Bogg said, choking up. “This is hard work, and to stay in it, for us to be good at it, requires actual relationships with people, and so when we lose them, it is very difficult.”