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More than 100 officers from all the gangs units poured into the neighborhood where Kilroy and Hauser were shot for a five-hour- long search for the killer. Leading the manhunt was Bone in Gangs North, who crawled on his hands and knees at 2 a.m. to ultimately find the suspect cowering under a porch. He put the search to an end.
Bone had countless career-making responses, which led him to be a highly decorated officer, earning 214 awards over the span of his career. He received seven Department commendations, two Life Saving awards, two Superintendent Awards of Valor and two Unit Meritorious Performance Awards.
“He was always out there being aggressive on patrol,” Govea praised. “He was always so productive.”
A good heart
“I can name it in three notes,” Bone challenged Ortiz. “I can name it in two,” Ortiz fired back.
“I can name it in one.”
They turned on the music.
“And damn it if he didn’t get the song, the artist and the year,” Ortiz laughed about Bone’s knowledge of one-hit wonders and old- ies. “He was phenomenal with music. I thought I was good, but my god.”
Bone was a friend to all. When Oliver had only two years on the job, he decided to work Christmas Day. At the end of his shift, Bone looked at Oliver — knowing that the young officer had nowhere to spend the holiday — and said, “You need a place to go. You’re com- ing with us.”
He brought Oliver to a house on the North West side where a re- tired Chicago Police Officer and his wife lived. The group celebrat- ed Christmas as a modern family.
Similarly, Anthony Ceja, who originally met Bone in the academy in 1982, could always count on his friend to bring a whole room to tears with laughter.
“He had a good heart. Harold was a character,” Ceja said. “I can’t recall somebody who didn’t like Harold. There was always a Bone story to go around.”
When Weller needed a babysitter, Bone and Audrey were the first people she called. If you needed a plumber or an electrician, Bone always knew a guy. Jerry Pentimone met Bone in 1989 while work- ing in Gangs North, and the two joined a car club together — Bone loved showing off his 1955 Chevy.
“He had a personality that would draw you to him,” Pentimone shared. “He would never make anyone feel that they don’t belong. He made everyone feel that they were important.”
But no matter how many people Bone met over the years, his
Members of the Special Operations Section pose for a team photo in 1999. Harold started working on the SOS team after a gangs units merger in the 1990s.
Harold and Audrey Bone married in 1991 after working together on the Gangs North team.
pride was his family. His life changed when he married Audrey in July 1991 after they met in Gangs North. Their lives gained new legacy when their son, Brian, was born in November 1992.
Brian became a Chi- cago Police Officer in February 2017. On the day Bone gave his badge number, 4776, to Brian, it was the triumphant culmination of an un- precedented 31-year law enforcement tour.
“He definitely gave me a call and said, ‘Bri- an started working today
with the police,’” Ortiz
recalled. “He was like the rooster in the courtyard. He was really proud of that.”
Although Bone retired in 2013, his presence is still felt in the De- partment through his son and all the people he touched through- out his career.
“I think everyone gets a guardian angel,” Oliver shared. “You have guys who will come in and teach you to do the right thing and then that’s it. But with Harold — he was good. He’s the city’s guard- ian angel.”
In Memoriam
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