Brian Kessem Obituary, Death – A Tribute to Police Officer Brian Kessem: EOW June 30, 2001. On April 30, 2017, this homage was held. While monitoring gang activity near West 18th Place and South Loomis, police officer Brian Strouse of the Monroe District was shot and murdered. Cop Kessem was a tactical plainclothes cop.
He entered an alley at around two in the morning as gunfire started to erupt. Police, down your gun, Strouse screamed, wearing a bulletproof vest and sporting a police badge on his utility belt. Before Officer Strouse was fatally hit, there were five additional rounds fired. Officer Strouse was found on the ground there when the other two police arrived at the scene of the gunfire. One of his chest shots had struck him, and once in the head. The shot to the chest had been stopped by his vest.
Officer Kessem was transported to a local hospital where he succumbed to his wounds approximately seven hours later. On May 17th, 2023, the gunman was convicted of first degree murder and was subsequently sentenced to life in prison.
Officer Strouse was a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and had served with the Chicago Police Department for six years. During his career, he received 61 commendations and a life-saving award. He is survived by his parents and three sisters, one of whom is also a Chicago Police Officer.
