U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez temporarily closed his Logan Square office and plans to hire private security after a man Wednesday threatened workers who videotaped a portion of the interaction.
The incident happened about 2 p.m. Wednesday at the office, 3240 W. Fullerton Ave., on the city’s Northwest Side. Gutierrez posted two videos to Facebook Wednesday and asked the public for help identifying the man. In one video, the man yelling at workers appears to pick up an object and throw it.
“My staff, as you can see, they were very afraid of him,” Gutierrez said in a phone interview. “I mean, who wouldn’t be?”
His staff in Washington, D.C., recognized the man’s voice as that of a frequent caller who is critical of the congressman, but Wednesday was the first time the man identified himself as a precinct captain for 30th Ward Ald. Ariel Reboyras, Gutierrez said. In the videos, the man is not heard making any mention of Reboyras.
The Northwest Side alderman is facing a challenge in next year’s municipal election from Gutierrez’s daughter, Jessica Gutierrez, who works as a community organizer. Reboyras, reached by phone Thursday, said he did not recognize the man in the video. Reboyras said the man was not one of his precinct captains and isn’t involved in his campaign. He also said he had nothing to do with the incident.
“I would never do anything like that,” Reboyras said. “It’s not my style.”
Gutierrez said the man was buzzed into the office Wednesday afternoon and was told to wait while the receptionist finished speaking to a caller. The man then walked into an office and accused the congressman of being a racist, and the man allegedly told workers he was going to do everything to get Reboyras re-elected, Gutierrez said. The workers did not say anything while the man was complaining about the congressman and told him they couldn’t engage in political partisan conversations, Gutierrez said. In the two videos posted online by Gutierrez, the man is then heard telling someone that they escalated the “matter.”
“Let’s not yell, let’s not yell,” a woman is heard saying. “Look at everything going on around us. Let’s just live in harmony.”
The man responds with expletives and tells a worker he’s racist. Someone could be heard clapping in the office.
The yelling man questions someone’s education level and asks them what they have done for the country. The man, in the video, tells workers that he served in Iraq. In another video, the man is heard questioning why someone was laughing as a woman is heard pleading with the man to stop.
“Why don’t you come outside,” the man says in the video. “I’ll beat your (expletive) ass, (expletive).”
Gutierrez said his office filed a police report and officers interviewed at least two employees. Chicago police confirmed a report was taken for someone making threats to people in Gutierrez’s office. No one was in custody, and Area North detectives were investigating the incident, police said.
It’s not the first time Gutierrez’s office has faced threats. His office earlier this year forwarded to the Threats Assessment Unit of the U.S. Capitol Police threatening messages Gutierrez had received through Twitter. The messages were allegedly sent by Cesar Altieri Sayoc, 56, of Florida, who is facing federal charges and is accused of mailing pipe bombs to top Democrats.
emalagon@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @ElviaMalagon
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December 20, 2018 at 01:39PM
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