20 years after the E2 nightclub tragedy, a woman mourns a mom she never got to know
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Friday marks 20 years since the horrific and deadly E2 nightclub tragedy in the South Loop.
Security guards trying to control a crowd at the venue, at 2347 S. Michigan Ave., used pepper spray on the crowd. Instead of calming things down, it caused a stampede.
In the end, 21 people died – many of asphyxiation.
Among those killed was LaToya McGraw, who left behind a 6-year-old girl who is now 26. McGraw's daughter, Shapara Hicks, told CBS 2's Chris Tye about her anger, her fear, and the mother she never got to know.
"Everybody just thought they were going out to enjoy a nightclub – you know, dance, have a couple drinks. But it didn't go that way," Hicks said. "She didn't know she wasn't going to make it home to me."
A security guard sprayed pepper spray to break up a fight – causing a panic in the crowded club. The crowd rushed to the front exit, but because the doors opened inwards, patrons couldn't get out because of the weight of the crowd pressing out against the doors.
It took 40 minutes for first responders to help the trampled and asphyxiated.
By then, it was too late. Twenty-one people died and dozens more were injured.
"If there's one person I could be like, it would be my mom," said Hicks. "I haven't forgotten why I am a motherless child. It may have been 20 years ago, but it seems like last night."
Hicks was 6 years old when the E2 stampede happened. Tye asked her if she can remember anything about that window of time.
"I was on the living room floor with my little blanket, waiting for my mom to come home," she said. "Honestly, I don't remember my mom at all - but I remember the feelings; the emotions; the gatherings; the balloons; the pictures; the tears."
On the first, fifth, and tenth anniversaries of the tragedy, there were balloon releases and public remembrances. Since then, those have largely stopped.
But Hicks has never stopped longing for a relationship she can never really have.
"It's very painful. Every day I wake up, I feel empty," Hicks said. "I need my mom. I need my real mom. I feel like there's things about her that I need to understand so that I can know who I am. I feel like my mother took a big part of me -- and I don't really know who she was."
The building that housed E2 still stands on South Michigan Avenue's Motor Row. They are looking for new tenant.
Meanwhile, the city in 2003 was looking to put new rules on the books to make sure what happened here that year never happens again.
Eight months after the tragedy, a unanimous City Council vote approved a package of code changes that tighten up occupancy rules, triggered better signage on how to exit safely, and bumped up the frequency of inspections.
"You can try to do better, and change laws, and, you know, make new rules - but are they going to follow them? Will the rules matter?" Hicks said. "And will this happen again to someone else's mom?"
Hicks herself works as a security guard. She says providing dignity to those in high-stress moment is something her mom would be proud of.
But even though she works in security, she rarely feels secure.
"I'm very scared; very empty. I'm angry a lot, but I'm learning how to control it," Hicks said. "I just wish my mom made it out, because she was truly beautiful - and I wish I had the chance to experience her presence. You all took that from me."
In 2009, club owner Dwain Kyles and his "silent partner," Calvin Hollins, were convicted of violating a Housing Court judge's order to close the second floor of the club over building code violations before the deadly stampede. They were sentenced to two years in prison, but those convictions and sentences were thrown out on appeal.
In 2007, Hollins was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter charges in Cook County Criminal Court. The next year, prosecutors dropped involuntary manslaughter charges against Kyles.
Meanwhile, Hicks hopes to connect with other relatives of the victims of the E2 nightclub tragedy to help continue to heal together.