Crystal Lake IL Funeral Homes
$20 OFF
Heart-felt tributes to honor a dear friend or loved one who has passed away
8012 Ridgefield Road
Crystal Lake, IL 60012
(815) 459-0547
419 E. Terra Cotta Ave
Crystal Lake, IL 60014
(815) 459-3411
Crystal Lake IL Obituaries and Death Notices
Monday, July 25, 2016Jake, a young Cuban-American from South Florida who also works at an airport hotel.They had met on the sidewalk in the downtown neighborhood of Crystal Lake, where they live, when Jake was cooling down from a run. Soon they started working out at L.A. Fitness and going to reggaeton concerts together. Jake liked to cook Cuban dishes like ropa vieja for Elmer. They had something more in common: Jake was out to his mother and sister, but not to anyone else from his home town; Elmer had never told anyone in El Salvador that he was gay, including his parents. Both asked me not to use their surnames.Before my visit to the hospital, Jake, who had escaped the shooting unharmed, told me over the phone about that night. He and Elmer did a quick circuit upon entering the club, where Biggie was playing in the lounge. They decided to stick to the main room, with the salsa and the bachata. Jake remembers the two of them dancing without pause, except to watch the midnight drag performance.At 2 A.M., when Mateen started firing near the entrance to the main room, Jake and Elmer were standing some fifty feet away, at the bar, with two Guatemalan friends. The group dove to the floor and crawled behind the counter, then into a prep room. In the corner, a ladder extended into a hatch. Along with two strangers, they climbed up into a dark hallway and found an office. They locked the door and sat huddled on the floor. A large patch was missing from Elmer’s khaki pants; a section of his calf had been blasted from the bone. Someone made him a tourniquet.The group waited, listening to the shots and screams coming from below. Occasionally, one of them would dial 911 and whisper reports to the dispatcher. Police had entered the club within five minutes of the first shots, but the dimness and the chaos meant that it was only at 2:30 A.M., once Mateen had withdrawn into the women’s rest room, taking eight hostages with him, that they were able to corner him. At this point, most of the wounded were removed from the club. Around three, police shouted through the office door that those inside should emerge with their hands up. The group descended the ladder and made its way to the exit, across the dance floor crowded with bodies. Jake was asked to wait in a tent in the parking lot for questioning. Elmer was taken to Orlando Health in the back of a cop’s pickup.On the afternoon I visited, Elmer was seated in a recliner next to his bed, looking out a window at the concrete strip malls and green lakes of Orlando...
Crystal Lake News
Monday, July 25, 2016Jake, a young Cuban-American from South Florida who also works at an airport hotel.They had met on the sidewalk in the downtown neighborhood of Crystal Lake, where they live, when Jake was cooling down from a run. Soon they started working out at L.A. Fitness and going to reggaeton concerts together. Jake liked to cook Cuban dishes like ropa vieja for Elmer. They had something more in common: Jake was out to his mother and sister, but not to anyone else from his home town; Elmer had never told anyone in El Salvador that he was gay, including his parents. Both asked me not to use their surnames.Before my visit to the hospital, Jake, who had escaped the shooting unharmed, told me over the phone about that night. He and Elmer did a quick circuit upon entering the club, where Biggie was playing in the lounge. They decided to stick to the main room, with the salsa and the bachata. Jake remembers the two of them dancing without pause, except to watch the midnight drag performance.At 2 A.M., when Mateen started firing near the entrance to the main room, Jake and Elmer were standing some fifty feet away, at the bar, with two Guatemalan friends. The group dove to the floor and crawled behind the counter, then into a prep room. In the corner, a ladder extended into a hatch. Along with two strangers, they climbed up into a dark hallway and found an office. They locked the door and sat huddled on the floor. A large patch was missing from Elmer’s khaki pants; a section of his calf had been blasted from the bone. Someone made him a tourniquet.The group waited, listening to the shots and screams coming from below. Occasionally, one of them would dial 911 and whisper reports to the dispatcher. Police had entered the club within five minutes of the first shots, but the dimness and the chaos meant that it was only at 2:30 A.M., once Mateen had withdrawn into the women’s rest room, taking eight hostages with him, that they were able to corner him. At this point, most of the wounded were removed from the club. Around three, police shouted through the office door that those inside should emerge with their hands up. The group descended the ladder and made its way to the exit, across the dance floor crowded with bodies. Jake was asked to wait in a tent in the parking lot for questioning. Elmer was taken to Orlando Health in the back of a cop’s pickup.On the afternoon I visited, Elmer was seated in a recliner next to his bed, looking out a window at the concrete strip malls and green lakes of Orlando...
