Coming to Chicago has never been easy for the mother of a Northwestern University doctoral student who was tragically killed in the crossfire of a Rogers Park shooting last summer.
After flying into the city on Wednesday, the driver who picked Tonya Colombo up at the airport unknowingly drove her past the 7500 block of North Clark — the scene of the Sept. 2 shooting of her 25-year-old son, Shane Colombo.
“I just lost it as we were driving,” she said Friday afternoon as she headed to a press conference to make another public appeal for fresh leads in the case. “It’s never easy coming here, it’s never a vacation, just even seeing [the city] is hard.”
Colombo also wanted to remind the public that there’s a reward — now at $12,000 — for information that leads the arrest and conviction of those responsible.
The reward was increased in December, thanks to a $10,000 contribution by an anonymous donor.
“I don’t know who it is, but I’m extremely thankful of what it might help us do, which is to get justice for Shane,” Tonya Colombo said. “We wanted to thank them today and to thank all the people in the community — many I’ve never met — who have given us so much support.”
Colombo was joined at the event by Ald. Joe Moore (49), Evanston City Council member Ann Rainey, Chicago police officials and staff from Northwestern University, according to a statement from community activist Andrew Holmes, who is assisting Colombo’s family.
Tips can be provided to authorities by calling (800) 883-5587; callers who choose to remain anonymous are still be eligible to receive the reward, Holmes said.
“The only way we’ll get justice is if the public helps us,” Tonya Colombo said. “Someone out there knows something, or saw something, or knows someone who did.”
Surveillance footage of three people seen in the area at the time of the shooting was released days later, but has not led to charges in the case, which police said remained under investigation Friday.
Colombo, originally from Sun City, California, had only recently moved to Evanston in order to pursue a doctoral degree at Northwestern University.
In relocating to Evanston, Colombo bought a condo with his partner, Vincent Perez, after the two dated long-distance while Colombo worked in New York City as a researcher at Columbia University’s Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Lab.
Perez said he is counting on the “inherent goodness” of people to reach out with new information that could solve the case. He also urged those responsible to come forward by themselves.
If he had the chance, he would tell them that “”you made a mistake,” Perez said Friday. “We all make mistakes, but part of that is taking responsibility. They can still come forward.”
