This week’s top photo comes from Assistant Photo Editor and Visual Journalist Pat Nabong. Follow her on Instagram.
What makes this photo great?
It’s rare for grieving families to be willing to speak to the media hours after seeing a potentially traumatic crime scene, and understandably so. Jose Fejerang, who said he saw his son Nathaniel Fejerang’s body through a fence after being shot by Chicago police, spoke openly and calmly to reporter Mary Norkol and I as he peered through the fence that surrounds his neighbor’s backyard. The same space where Nathaniel was shot.
The photo is of a quiet, brief moment, revealing the pain in his eyes as he spoke to us about his son. It’s one of those photos you wish you didn’t have to take. Police allegedly shot Nathaniel while they were on patrol, trying to detain him, when his gun went off, according to police. It’s a claim that Fejerang and his neighbors disputed during our interview with them. A neighbor said he heard Nathaniel yell, “I’m not resisting, I’m not resisting. I’ve been shot.”
How did you get this shot?
A string of other people led us to Jose Fejerang. Norkol and I were sent on a “folo,” which is basically a follow-up on a crime that happened overnight. We didn’t have any identities yet and the only information we had was the block where it happened. We found out where Fejerang lived after speaking to a gas station employee who was friends with him. When we arrived outside his home, we saw one person walking from the backyard. We introduced ourselves as journalists with the Chicago Sun-Times and he ushered us in, saying that Fejerang’s friends were gathering there. Knowing well enough that it was a raw and sensitive situation, we first asked the man to ask the group if they were okay with being introduced to us. We never want to impose during vulnerable moments like this, just hours after a crime scene. As journalists, we take great care in amplifying people’s stories. Part of that work is knowing when to push, when to step back, and when to honor people’s agency in deciding when to tell their stories.
The group of friends was okay with it, and when we got to the backyard, we saw a makeshift vigil of candles that spelled out Fejerang’s name — “NATE.” As his friends and neighbors recalled memories of the 19-year-old and told us what they heard the night before, another friend called Norkol and I towards the fence, where Jose just arrived. The friend said Jose wanted to speak to us.
While Norkol interviewed Jose, I quietly took pictures and photographed the emotional moment.
Technical details:
- Equipment: Sony A7IV
- Focal length: 70mm
- Aperture: f/2.8
- Exposure: 1/1250
- ISO: 100
16 more great photos from the Sun-Times staff
Family and supporters of Jayden Perkins including his mother Laterria Smith, black vest, and father Chris Perkins, gray t-shirt, walk through the lobby of the Leighton Criminal Courthouse after a jury found Crosetti Brand guilty on all counts in Jayden’s murder, Thursday, June 5, 2025, in Chicago.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly, of the Northern District of Illinois, holds a naturalization ceremony, with 25 people from 15 countries all over the world taking the Oath of Allegiance and completing the process of becoming U.S. citizens, at Rate Field ahead of the Chicago White Sox game against the Detroit Tigers, Thursday, June 5, 2025.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Anesa Cengic Stiles, 36, of Andersonville, who moved to the United States at 6 years old to the U.S. to flee the Bosnian genocide, celebrates after a naturalization ceremony, in which she took the Oath of Allegiance and completed the process of becoming a U.S. citizen, at Rate Field ahead of the Chicago White Sox game against the Detroit Tigers, Thursday, June 5, 2025.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Antonio McDowell walks out of the George N. Leighton Criminal Courthouse in Little Village after being exonerated, Monday, June 2, 2025. A judge vacated Antonio McDowell’s decades-old conviction which was part of a series of wrongful convictions and arrest by former Chicago Police Detective Reynaldo Guevara.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times