By JEFF MAYES
Chicago Sun-Times Wire
At least 12 people were killed in violence in Chicago last week, including a 21-month-old girl allegedly beaten to death by her mother’s boyfriend, and two boys ages 16 and 17 killed in separate shootings on the West Side.
Cook County prosecutors allege that 22-year-old Uriel Vega was baby-sitting Raiylana Vasquez on Tuesday, Nov. 7, when he pulled the infant off the couch, threw her across the kitchen and into a bedroom, and then stomped on her stomach. Vega is being hjeld without bond on a first-degree murder charge.
It happened Tuesday morning in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. Authorities responded to the 4700 block of South Honore at 11:22 a.m. and found Raiylana unresponsive, Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. She had suffered “obvious” signs of trauma.
Raiylana was taken to Holy Cross Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. An autopsy found she died of multiple injuries due to child abuse, and her death was ruled a homicide, according to the medical examiner’s office.
The state Department of Children and Family Services is also investigating the mother’s boyfriend for allegations of abuse and neglect, according to a spokeswoman.
- A teenage boy was the week’s first homicide, fatally shot Monday afternoon in West Garfield Park. Someone walked up to 16-year-old Clarence Coakley about 3:30 p.m. in the 4600 block of West Lake Street and shot him repeatedly in the upper torso, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. The boy was pronounced dead at the scene.
- Also fatally shot Monday was a 17-year-old Jeremiah Parker, a football standout at Washington High School, in South Austin. Jeremiah Parker had just gotten out of his vehicle about 8:30 p.m. and was entering a home in the 500 block of South Lockwood when an armed male in a black hoodie confronted him and demanded his car keys, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. A struggle ensued, during which the gun went off and the boy was struck in the chest and arm. The suspect then ran away. Parker was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead about two hours later.
- A man died Sunday of injuries suffered after a West Garfield Park shooting that left three others wounded Wednesday. About 4 p.m. Nov. 9, the men were standing outside in the 3400 block of West Monroe when a gray vehicle pulled up and at least one person inside opened fire, according to police.
Darian Tyler, 23, was shot in the face and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he died at 8:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 13, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. A 20-year-old shot in the abdomen was taken in serious condition to Stroger, along with a 27-year-old listed in good condition with a graze wound to the arm. The fourth victim, 24, was shot in the arm, and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in fair condition.
- The week’s final homicide was a man shot to death in the South Shore neighborhood Sunday evening. About 7:10 p.m., officers responded to a call of shots fired in the 7200 block of South Phillips Avenue and found 25-year-old Grayson Langdon unresponsive on the ground, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Langdon had suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.
- A man was shot dead outside a gas station early Sunday in the South Austin neighborhood. Officers responding to a call of a person shot in the 4800 block of West Madison at 1:59 a.m. found 20-year-old Tridell Parker with multiple gunshot wounds to the abdomen and chest, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Parker was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 2:37 a.m. Witnesses said he had been in some type of argument with a large group of people, and someone in that group shot him.
- A south suburban man was shot to death early Saturday in the West Lawn neighborhood. Louis Antonio Torres, 31, of Blue Island, was driving in the 6800 block of South Springfield just before 2 a.m. when someone outside opened fire, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Torres was driven to Holy Cross Hospital and transferred to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead about three hours later.
- Another man was shot to death early Saturday in East Garfield Park. Officers responding to reports of shots fired at 3:21 a.m. found 31-year-old Lorenzo Dixon lying in an alley in the 100 block of South California. He had suffered gunshot wounds to the head, left arm and left leg, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Dixon, who lived on the same block, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead about half an hour later.
- Three men were wounded, one fatally, in a shooting in the West Side Lawndale neighborhood Thursday afternoon. At 4:15 p.m., the men were standing on the sidewalk in the 1300 block of South Homan when someone in a light colored vehicle drove up and fired shots, according to police. Javoun Burnes, 22, was shot in the chest and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 6 p.m., according to the medical examiner’s office. An 18-year-old man was taken to Stroger Hospital in serious condition after he was shot in the right leg; and a 20-year-old man was shot in the buttocks and was taken to Mount Sinai, where his condition was stabilized.
- A man was shot to death Wednesday night in the Little Village neighborhood. Giovanni Garcia, 18, was in the driver’s seat of a vehicle about 11 p.m., double parked in the 2400 block of South Springfield, when a black SUV pulled up and someone inside opened fire, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Garcia was shot in the chest and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead 30 minutes later.
- Manuel Vega died Tuesday, two days after he and another man were shot in the Brighton Park neighborhood early Sunday. Vega, 23, and a 30-year-old man were in an argument with a third man male at 4:57 a.m. in a parking lot in the 3300 block of West 47th Street. The third man pulled out a gun and opened fire, according to police. Vega was shot in the head and neck, and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead Tuesday at 9:39 a.m., according to the medical examiner’s office. The older man suffered gunshot wounds to the shoulder and forearm, and was taken to Mount Sinai, where his condition was stabilized.
- On Monday, a 24-year-old man was fatally shot in the chest during a shootout in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on the West Side. Orpheus Washington was on the street about 8:30 p.m. in the 3800 block of West Augusta when he fired shots at the occupants of a black car, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. The car then pulled over and the occupants returned fire, striking Washington in the chest. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.