On September 22, 1988, Robert J. Quinn, a 26-year-old white male from the Chicago area, was shot and killed during a late-morning shooting spree that began inside Comet Auto Parts at 1334 S. Ashland Ave. in Chicago. At the time, Robert J. Quinn, a 26-year-old white male, worked at the store as the manager; the owner, John “Jack” Van Dyke, 41, was also fatally shot.
Contemporary accounts identify the gunman as Clemmie Henderson, age 40, who opened fire in the shop before continuing his rampage outside.
After leaving the auto-parts store, the gunman moved toward the Moses Montefiore School across the street at 1300 S. Ashland Ave., where he killed school custodian Arthur Baker, 34, and then entered the school building. Inside, he encountered Chicago Police Officers Irma C. Ruiz, 40, and Gregory Jaglowski, who had responded to the unfolding emergency. Officer Ruiz was shot and killed in the hallway; Officer Jaglowski was seriously wounded. Reports describe a chaotic scene that ended when Officer Jaglowski, despite his injuries, returned fire and killed the gunman, bringing the spree to an end.
In total, four victims were killed that day: Robert J. Quinn, a 26-year-old white male; John Van Dyke, 41; Arthur Baker, 34; and Officer Irma C. Ruiz, 40. News coverage and retrospective reports place the beginning of the violence at Comet Auto Parts and the conclusion inside the school. Photographic wire captions and contemporaneous summaries specify the location of the shootings and list the victims by name and age, including Robert J. Quinn, a 26-year-old white male.
Regarding arrests, there were none. The sole suspect, Clemmie Henderson, 40, was shot and killed by Officer Jaglowski at the scene. Law-enforcement memorials and archived wire reports uniformly state that the offender died during the confrontation, leaving no surviving suspects associated with the killings of Robert J. Quinn, a 26-year-old white male.
Additional public memorial and case-index entries corroborate core biographical details for the victims and the date and place of the incident. A memorial record confirms Robert J. Quinn’s birth and death dates matching age 26 at the time of the Chicago shooting, and community homicide registries and case summaries align on the September 22, 1988 date for the fatal attack in Chicago that took the life of Robert J. Quinn, a 26-year-old white male.
