Michal Ciskal spent every Sunday playing video games with his little brother from halfway across the world.
Ciskal, who moved to the United States from Poland eight years ago, was shot and killed during an attempted carjacking on his 25th birthday Sunday morning in the Fuller Park neighborhood on the South Side.
According to loved ones, Ciskal was a friend to everyone and would do anything for his family back in Poland.
“Michal was the light of any situation,” his roommate and longtime friend David Nowak said. “Just in the garage working on things, whatever it was. Even if it was something little and dumb, he’d be in there helping you out.”
Ciskal, an electromechanical technician, was on his way to work at the University of Chicago when he stopped for gas at the Shell, 5458 S. Wells St., about 7:55 a.m. Sunday, according to the 24-year-old Nowak and a police report.
Two armed men got out of a stolen gray BMW and after a “brief conversation,” demanded Ciskal’s car keys. Then one of them shot Ciskal in the chest while the other wrenched the keys from his hand, the police report says. The assailant with the keys tried to drive Ciskal’s car away, but didn’t because it was a manual transmission, which he couldn’t drive, according to the report.
For Nowak, refusing to hand over his keys was a characteristic move for Ciskal, who spent much of his time with cars and met Nowak at a car meet-up event six or seven years ago. It was also honorable, in Nowak’s eyes, and it’s something that would be respected in Polish culture, he said.
The two roommates grew close through working on cars together and going fishing in St. Charles and Wood Dale, despite Ciskal not being much of an angler.
“He wasn’t the biggest fisherman, but Michal … whatever people were around and whatever interested people, he was always down,” Nowak said.
Ciskal dreamed of owning property and constructing a track for drift racing on several acres, Nowak said.
Ciskal has stayed connected to his family in Poland since he left the country eight years ago, Nowak said.
His parents were scheduled to come to the city for a visit next week, and he had a standing appointment to play video games with his brother every Sunday after buying him a new game console, Nowak said.
“Not a cheap one, but Michal didn’t care about cost, he just wanted the best for his little brother,” Nowak said.
Ciskal thought of his family’s best interests often, and hoped he could help his brother if he decided to move to the U.S.
“You know those nights where you’re sharing a beer together and talking and saying what you really want in life?” Nowak said. “That was his dream … ‘If he decides he wants to come to America, I’m going to give him everything I can to make his life easier.’ He always said that.”
Without Ciskal around, Nowak finds himself still expecting him to come through their door in Des Plaines.
“It comes in waves,” he said. “From time to time, it becomes really real, and other times I’m just expecting him to come home at any minute.”
Nowak and Ciskal’s other friends and relatives are raising money for funeral expenses and Ciskal’s family back in Poland. A GoFundMe account has raised more than $6,000, which Nowak says will go back to Ciskal’s parents for a traditional Polish memorial.