Niles, Illinois

From the Chicago Sun Times of February 22, 2007

Man shot to death in home

Dad hears shots, grabs gun, fires at intruders

His son answered a knock at the front door Wednesday, and suddenly, the "pop, pop, pop" of gunshots broke the silence of a sleepy afternoon in his Niles home.

Leonard "Lenny" Bird Jr. was upstairs and knew his son was in trouble. He grabbed his gun and ran toward the front door, where he saw an intruder, and watched his son, Michael Childers, dying in the doorway.

Bird and at least one gunman exchanged gunfire, then the gunman and a second intruder fled, Bird's family said, relating what Bird told them about the 3 p.m. shooting.

'Gunshot holes all over walls' "They were shooting back and forth . . . inside the home, there were gunshot holes all over the walls there," said Bird's sister Karen Nielsen. She said Bird was not hurt, and it didn't appear the gunman or the accomplice were either.

'It should have been me' Witnesses told police they saw two men run from the house, climb into a van parked nearby and speed away from the home in the 8100 block of North Susan Court. Childers, 28, a self-employed tile worker, died of a gunshot wound, according to police, family and the Cook County medical examiner's office.

"My brother just kept saying 'It should have been me, it should have been me,' " said Nielsen, who lives three blocks away. She said she was shocked and saddened that this could happen on a sleepy north suburban cul-de-sac.

Police were searching for the intruders. They closed two nearby schools and a day care briefly Wednesday afternoon as they combed the area.

Relatives suspect that the incident started as a robbery attempt. They said there had been an attempted break-in at the home in the last year. But Nielsen doesn't think it had anything to do with her brother's job, collecting and selling coins. Police said nothing was taken from the home.

Niles police Sgt. Tom Davis said there hasn't been a homicide in the suburb in some time.