Names and addresses used in this true story are fictitious
Armed Man Holding Hostages
The Pancake House was located in the Village of Wilmette just a few yards North of Evanston, Illinois. It was a very nice restaurant and a known hang out for police officers. When working the 4:00 p.m. to midnight you could get food or coffee up until midnight. The restaurant would then close until 5:30 a.m. However on this night it would stay open a few hours longer, but not for regular business.
Officer John Lindstrom a 12 year veteran of the Wilmette Police Department and I were sitting in front of a Standard gas station on the corner of 10th and Sheridan. John was a few blocks out of his village and it was close to the end of our shift. We were thinking about stopping at a local bar on the way home to have a beer together.
John and I were very good friends on and off the job. When he was on duty he would always try to get the East beat to patrol just to be there if I needed a back-up or if he needed one, I could respond faster than one of his Officers could.
Wilmette was a much larger village than Kenilworth and required more units to cover it. The population in Wilmette was more than tripled the size of Kenilworth.
After deciding where we would stop for a beer, John advised me he was going to stop for a cup of coffee at the Pancake House on Green Bay Road and take it with him to the Police Station. He had a few reports he had to finish before leaving the job for the evening. I was going to be a little late getting off as well and the time factor would work well for both of us.
John pulled into the parking lot at the Pancake House, parked his squad at the rear of the building and walked in through the back door. It was a few minutes before midnight and they would be closing soon. As he walked through the narrow hallway he saw Susie Kenyon talking on the phone. She was a cute little blonde, just barely 18 years old. John would always tease her every chance he would get.
“Hey Susie does Marvin know that you are fluffing off back here on the telephone?”
She gave him a long puzzled look and returned to the conversation with her girl friend on the telephone. “Oh that was just John Lindstrom.” She said.
John walked up to the counter and asked Marvin for a coffee double sugar to go. He looked around the restaurant as he waited the few minutes for the order to be filled. He noticed a couple sitting in the corner at the other end of the room, just behind the front door. It was the darkest area in the restaurant and John thought that was a little strange as there were plenty other places to sit. He looked closer at the pair. The male was a short stocky black male with a wide brim hat and wearing sunglasses, estimated to be in his forties. The female was a tall lanky black woman in her mid to late thirties and was ugly as sin. (Boy I am glad it’s his date and not mine) John thought to himself. Matter of fact he almost giggled when he saw them together. Such an unusual looking couple. They really did not fit together, but none of my business. (John thought).
“Ready to call it a night John?”
“Yeah it’s been a long night Marvin going home to Momma.”
They both laughed as John left a buck on the counter on his way out.
“Hey John, how many times do I have to tell you? You do not pay for food or drink in here.” Marvin growled.
“Ok, then give it to your favorite charity. Goodnight Marvin.” John said as he walked back down the small narrow hallway, waving at Susie as he passed.
John signed back on as soon as he exited the back door of the Pancake House. “Wilmette 539 is 10-8.”
“10-4 539.” The Wilmette Dispatcher responded.
Well, I think I will be rolling into the garage, park the squad and finish the one case report I have, as I rounded the water fountain at Kenilworth and Richmond Avenues only a half block from the police station. (Thinking out loud to myself).
“Wilmette Car 539 get back over to the Pancake House now. I have a young girl on the phone stating there is a man in there with a gun.” Other Wilmette units also respond.”
“539 is 10-4 Wilmette, be advised there was a couple in there as I picked up the order to go. One black male is short and stocky with a large wide brim hat and wearing sunglasses. The female was tall and thin wearing a long white dress.”
John gave out good information, should they be gone before he could respond. The Dispatcher repeated the information to other units responding and also gave the call out to the Evanston Police Department.
Susie had overheard one of the two blacks ordering Marvin to give up the money. She peeped around the corner of the narrow hallway and saw one of them pointing a gun at her boss. She still had contact with her friend on the phone and asked her to call the Wilmette Police. Susie then slipped into the back storage room and hid in the darkness.
John was only a block away when he got the call. He tossed the coffee with double sugars out the window of his squad as he made a U-turn and sped toward the restaurant.
I head the same call and before John could complete his message to the dispatcher, I was entering the Village of Wilmette, closing in on the Pancake House. John knew I was coming and was fully aware that I may be there by the time he was or shortly afterwards.
“Let’s get this place surrounded Wilmette. A black male dressed in a long white dress is holding a gun to Marvin Fredricks head.”
John had parked to the rear of the restaurant on the Northwest side and entered the same door that he had just left a few minutes ago. He was transmitting from a portable radio he carried with him when leaving the squad.
I pulled up to the right side and to the rear of the restaurant, seeing John as he backed out of the side door. He then went to the large picture window on the North side and after kneeling, kept an eye on the robbers.
I removed my shotgun, loaded with double 00 buck shot from the locking device that was mounted on the front floor of my squad. Racked a round into the chamber, placed it on safety and stepped out of my squad. I then moved to a large telephone pole and placed the barrel against the side of the pole and took aim. I was kneeling down behind the pole and had a clear view of the right rear door and also the right front of the restaurant.
One thing that made me a little nervous was that I was right under a street light. Should anyone exit from the right rear door or the front they would see me kneeling there. (As it turned out, that was a good thing.)
Within a few minutes the streets were covered with police cars. Evanston, Wilmette, Winnetka, Northfield, Cook County Sheriffs Department, and even Lincolwood were on the scene. Not to mention yours truly. We had the restaurant surrounded just as John had requested.
I saw the suspect approach the right rear door of the restaurant and also noticed the long barrel of a 38 revolver pointing at the head of Marvin Fredricks. The door slowly opened and they both started to step out. The black male dressed in the white dress saw me and stopped cold.
“Dear Lord, please don’t make me have to shoot this man.” I prayed out loud.
The suspect backed up through the open door, turned and went back into the restaurant.
“Boy that was a close call Kenilworth.” One of the Wilmette Officers on the scene said. “You had better believe it.” I answered nervously.
A known burglar and armed robber and all around bad dude, named Freddy Homer had decided to rob the restaurant accompanied by his friend, Slits Brown. They had entered the Pancake House at 11:25 p.m., ordered coffee and cake and as they sat there, watched at least a half dozen police officers enter and exit. Most of the officers did not give them a second look. Except for John Lindstrom. They had over looked Susie Kenyon, thinking she had gone home for the night.
When they were told the restaurant was closed, Freddy stood up taking his silly looking $5.95 wig and threw it to the floor. He then pulled a 38 six inch Smith&Wesson model 19 out of his bra and advised Marvin he wanted all the cash.
The stand off lasted for two hours and forty minutes. Then a plain clothed Officer entered the restaurant through the front door. I knew the Officer as I had been on a few cases with him in court and I also assisted him on a burglary suspect arrest. I heard he had made Detective and this was the first time I had seen him in over a year. He looked like Robert Blake in the television series, ‘Bretta’.
Detective Randu Turner was in the restaurant 15 minutes when the left rear door opened and an Evanston Police Officer walked out with Slits Brown in front of him. They walked through the back parking lot and stopped along side of a dark colored Chevy. Slits got into the vehicle and drove off. The Evanston Officer returned to the restaurant and entered the back door.
Freddy Homer had agreed to give himself up if they let Slits Brown go free. Well that is no hard bargain as we all knew where to find Slits and he would be in custody within the hour. There was no doubt about that.
Homer finally did give up and released his hostage. Marvin was freed without anyone being hurt.
I found out later the next day in talking to my old friend, Bretta, that Homer had heard me say, “Don’t make me shoot this man.” He saw the shotgun and was afraid after that point to come outside. If there had not been a shotgun he said he would have taken a chance.
Wilmette Officers were not allowed to carry shotguns and had to issue only on special calls. They had not taken the time to issue them on this robbery in progress call.
John and I had to take a pass on the beers that night. But we made up for it later.
PI novel set in Manhattan during the 1980s when art galleries and model agencies were the two most glamorous businesses in the world. Dangerously well written.
Read Chapter 1 here: https://www.lit4u.com/art-and-beauty-chapter-1/
Literary Titan
"We walked in on a surreal scene. There are few words, if any, to accurately describe the abject horror..."
What Jeannie and Kevin McDonough saw was a wanted, multi-state serial killer about to take his next victim - their own daughter. W
