Business & Tech
Evanston Police, NORTAF Still Investigating Tobacco Shop Deaths
Police found the two brothers who worked at Evanston Pipe & Tobacco dead of apparent gunshot wounds in the store's basement last Tuesday.
Evanston police and the North Regional Major Crime Task Force (NORTAF) are still investigating the deaths of two brothers in their downtown tobacco store last Tuesday, according to police spokesperson Perry Polinski.
Police found Azim Hakeem, 38, and Mobeen Hakeem, 34, both Evanston residents, dead of apparent gunshot wounds in the basement of Evanston Pipe & Tobacco, 923 Davis St., around 8:10 p.m. Tuesday. Officers went to check on the brothers at the store at the request of a concerned family member, police said.
A NORTAF van was parked outside the store on mid-day Monday, but authorities with NORTAF directed questions to the Evanston Police Department. Polinski said police are not releasing any more information about the deaths at this time.
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Last Wednesday, Evanston Police Cmdr. Jason Parrott said there were no indications that there had been a robbery at the store, and said police have classified their investigation as a death investigation. A spokesperson for the medical examiner’s office told Patch Thursday that they had not issued a cause of death “pending further investigation” by police.A family member posted a statement Wednesday on the door of an Evanston home that is listed online as the Hakeems’ address.
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“My brothers were gentle, humble men who did not deserve anything like this,” the statement read.
Speaking to Patch on Wednesday, fellow shop-workers, neighbors and acquaintances remembered the brothers as nice men who mostly kept to themselves.PREVIOUS COVERAGE:
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- No Cause of Death Yet in Tobacco Shop Shootings
- Brothers Shot to Death in Downtown Evanston Store
- Nearby Shop-Owners Remember Hakeem Brothers
- Family Issues Statement, Calling Brothers "Gentle, Humble Men"
- Photos From the Scene Outside Evanston Tobacco & Pipe Shop
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