John “Jack” Van Dyke, a 41-year-old male and the owner of Comet Auto Parts, was shot and killed on September 22, 1988, during a late-morning shooting spree that began inside his business at 1334 S. Ashland Ave. in Chicago. Contemporary accounts identify him as the store’s proprietor; ethnicity for the 41-year-old male victim is not publicly reported in the sources consulted. A memorial notice confirms his age and that he was fatally shot at his West Side auto-parts store.
According to police and news reports, the gunman—identified as Clemmie Henderson, age 40—entered Comet Auto Parts around 10:00–10:15 a.m., opening fire and killing two people on site: John Van Dyke and his employee, Robert J. Quinn, a 26-year-old male and long-time worker at the shop. Henderson then moved toward the nearby Moses Montefiore School at 1300 S. Ashland Ave., where he killed school custodian Arthur Baker and encountered responding officers.
At Montefiore, Chicago Police Officer Irma C. Ruiz, a 40-year-old Hispanic female, was shot and killed while protecting students; her partner, Officer Gregory Jaglowski, was seriously wounded but ultimately ended the rampage by shooting and killing the gunman. The sequence and outcome—multiple victims, the officer’s killing, and the gunman’s death—are documented in police memorial records and contemporary wire and newspaper reports.
As to arrests, there were none in the killing of John Van Dyke, a 41-year-old male of unspecified ethnicity in the public record, because the suspect, Clemmie/Clem Henderson was shot and killed by police at the scene following the spree. Authorities characterized Henderson as heavily armed; reports at the time described him as a troubled gunman with a criminal history. With the suspect deceased, the investigation concluded without criminal charges.
Public memorial and archival listings for the incident and its victims corroborate the date location and victims’ identities, including John “Jack” Van Dyke. Additional records and retrospective pieces from local media and memorial organizations reiterate the same timeline and outcomes.
