Shots rang out at the Levee Bar at 4035 W. Fullerton, just as their poetry host, Bobco (Robert Edwards), was about to begin The Working Class Poets, a poetry reading, at 7:47 p.m. on Thursday night, December 12, 2024. Sergio Mayora was “holding court” with a captivated crowd according to Edwards. Suddenly, three loud gunshots exploded, the smell of smoke hung in the air, and people ran from the bar.
Edwards and another poet rushed to help the 38 year-old victim. The man’s name was Isreal Guzman, according to a WGN article by Marisa Rodriguez and Erik Runge. The poets (with backgrounds including health care) jumped to work. Together they tried to staunch the tremendous amount of blood from Guzman’s head and chest wounds using clean bar towels.
The bartender, the victim’s cousin, screamed inconsolably, alternating between shock, rage and prayer. Never in the history of Chicago poetry is such an incident known to have happened.
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