Melrose Park man who set Chicago’s ‘Walking Man’ on fire was an ‘angry person,’ prosecutors say

Joseph Kromelis, often known as the “Strolling Man,” won’t ever stroll once more after prosecutors say Joseph Guardia doused the 75-year-old homeless man with gasoline and set on him on hearth whereas Kromelis was sleeping on a sidewalk.

“The sufferer’s physique instantly turned engulfed in flames,” Cook dinner County Assistant State’s Lawyer Danny Hanichak mentioned. “Because the sufferer bought up, he started thrashing round making an attempt to place the fireplace out. The defendant took off operating.”

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Kromelis was on hearth for 3 minutes earlier than a Trump Tower safety guard rescued him with a hearth extinguisher. The crime was caught on surveillance video.

“In 16 years of prosecuting circumstances I’ve by no means seen a video so horrific,” Hanichak mentioned.

Prosecutors mentioned Guardia did not know Kromelis. He informed police he was offended and trying to set one thing on hearth.

“The defendant claimed he did not know an individual was there,” Hanichak mentioned. “The defendant didn’t present a particular motive apart from being an offended particular person.”

Prosecutors do not buy it. They are saying Kromelis’ face and ft had been uncovered, so that they consider Guardia knew he was setting a human being on hearth.

“This defendant didn’t goal somebody who he had an argument with or somebody who wronged him or somebody he knew,” Hanichak mentioned. “He focused probably the most weak particular person doable.”

Surveillance video tracked Guardia’s whereabouts following the crime. He took the CTA Blue Line and a Tempo bus again dwelling to Melrose Park, the place a police officer and one other resident acknowledged him after surveillance images had been launched by police.

Neighborhood activist Andrew Holmes got here to courtroom Monday to assist Kromelis, who has no household right here in Chicago

“Simply because he was much less lucky than others sleeping on that sidewalk,” Holmes mentioned. “I am right here, I am standing for him.”

Because the choose gave Guardia no bail, the prosecutor mentioned this case will seemingly be upgraded to homicide. Kromelis was taken to Stroger Hospital. Medical doctors mentioned he isn’t anticipated to outlive.