Freddie Rogers met Corey Gates when they were both high school freshman on Chicago’s West Side.
Nearly 40 years after they graduated and decided to enlist in the U.S. Army together, Rogers considered himself lucky to still have Gates as a close friend. He felt like he could always count on him.
“We’d kick back and do what older men like to do, have a cocktail or maybe a cigar, but Corey never changed,” Rogers said. “He always remained that positive, uplifting person. He never really had bad words to say about anybody. And truth be told, nobody really had anything bad to say about Corey. Corey was Corey, and he was arguably the best out of all of us, to me.”
He thought that they would get to spend many more years in each other’s lives.
Rogers spoke with Gates for the last time not long before the 54-year-old South Holland man was shot and killed during an attempted carjacking in the 600 block of South Boulevard in Oak Park during the early morning hours of April 4. Rogers learned of Gates’ murder from a mutual friend later that day.
“I literally just yelled out so loud it reverberated through the house,” Rogers said. “It just cut to my soul. Because this is a man who loved and respected everyone and everyone respected and loved him. And it’s unfortunate that this heinous incident happened to him out of all people.”
Gates is the first person killed in an Oak Park homicide since last November’s fatal shooting of Oak Park detective Allan Reddins.
Oak Park police believe that Gates was sleeping in his vehicle when several people, including 20-year-old Chicago man Jabari McGee, tried to hijack his vehicle, according to police reports associated with the case. Police believe McGee is responsible for Gates’ death and arrested him on charges of first-degree murder.
“All I had was murdered… and it’s devastating,” the victim’s twin sister Cathleen Gates told television station ABC7. “It’s going to be devastating that he’s gone. He ain’t here no more because of some bums.”
More arrests in connection with Gates’ murder may be coming.
“OPPD is continuing to investigate the involvement of others and will take appropriate action as necessary,” Oak Park spokesperson Dan Yopchick said.
Five others were detained in connection with the killing, but charges have only been brought against McGee so far.
McGee had been out on supervised release for two months awaiting trial for felony drug trafficking charges stemming from an arrest on Chicago Avenue in Chicago in February. He’d also been convicted of a “prior violent felony” as a minor in 2020, according to Cook County court documents.
Police believe McGee also suffered a gunshot wound during the attempted carjacking, although Gates was not armed, according to police.
McGee was denied pretrial release and will next appear before Judge John Hock at the Maywood Courthouse again April 25.
Rogers said the killing has stunned his group of friends.
“It’s senseless, completely senseless, there’s no feasible reason that Corey shouldn’t be with us right now,” he said. “A couple more buddies of ours came by my house because they knew how tight Corey and I were and they were tight with Corey as well. And we just sat down in my man cave and we were just silent. We just couldn’t believe this happened to him out of all people.”
“As we got older, never in a million years did I think that I would have to endure this, of all things.”
Rogers has many memories to cherish of Gates, as their friendship lasted through wartime military service and countless other stages of life. Those memories include the first cigars they shared together after their 1988 high school graduation, which they paired with non-alcoholic beers, he said.
Rogers said despite the grief, he feels proud to have had Gates as a friend.
“There’s nothing in this world that we wouldn’t do for each other,” he said. “It’s really just a tragic loss.”