Man collapses and dies in Chicago alley after telling friends he was beaten with pipes

© Madeline Buckley/Chicago Tribune/TNS Police are investigating under the Laramie Green Line stop after a man died from a beating…

By Hannah Leone And Madeline Buckley, Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO

Anthony Beard and Khadijah Hill were hanging out near a Chicago train stop when their friend came running up, shirtless, a wound in his chest and gash at the corner of his mouth.

The friend told them four people had jumped him at his home about half a mile away, near Washington Boulevard and Lorel Avenue. He seemed in shock, Hill said.

Beard offered to take him to the hospital. But the friend walked across a parking at the southeast corner of Laramie and Lake Street, to an alley behind some dumpsters. He'd barely gone when people called out that their "homie" had collapsed.

When they went to check, "he was already gone," Hill said.

The friend, Kim Edmondson, 29, was dead when officers arrived around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. He had been hit in the head and chest, but police said they did not know what kind of weapon was used.

A woman, who didn't give her full name, said she called 911 after Edmondson fell to the ground. She was on the phone with a dispatcher when another person flagged down officers.

The woman said Edmondson was walking and talking moments before he collapsed. She said he had a cut on his chest and was bleeding from his mouth. He told her he had been beaten with pipes.

"He was still talking," she said. "Then he was not (expletive) breathing."

Police shined flashlights behind blue waste bins circled by yellow crime tape. Several marked and unmarked police cars lined the street near Washington and Lorel.

As police worked the scene, friends and acquaintances showed up and tried to track down Edmondson's family. They used his Facebook profile to figure out who he might be closest to, but after a few hours, they had yet to get a message back.

Several of the people said they had known him for years but didn't know much about his personal life. Beard said he was the kind of guy who'd give you his last dollar.

Jackie Burton, 55, rushed to the area to be with her son who was friends with Edmondson. Standing inside the crime scene, Burton hugged her son and wiped away tears.

"He's not doing well," she said of her son, tears in her eyes.

Hill said the murder has her on edge. "We don't know who did this," she said. "I look at everybody as a suspect. I don't even want to be around here anymore."

Another man was beaten Wednesday night blocks away from the scene on Laramie.

A passerby flagged down officers at the corner of Cicero Avenue and Lake Street around 9:45 p.m. for a 40-year-old man who was lying unresponsive on the ground. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition, but was later uncooperative when police spoke with him.

Blood pooled on the sidewalk on Cicero, and a broken liquor bottle was smashed on the ground.