By JEFF MAYES
Homicide Watch Chicago
Another 17 people died from violence in Chicago the week of August 7-13, including seven killed on a bloody Sunday that included a triple homicide and a double homicide, one of which is being investigated as a case of self-defense and the other occurring on the front steps of a church as services were getting under way.
Sun-Times file photo by Ashlee Rezin
Celeste “CeCe” Cockriel and her cousins, Narcisco “Kiko” Ledesma and Antonio “AJ” Lopez, were fatally shot at a home in the East Side neighborhood on the Far South Side Sunday. The homeowner who shot them claims they were breaking in and the shootings were in self-defense. Detectives initially questioned that man to confirm the story, but released him without charges on Wednesday, according to Chicago Police.
A police source said the 31-year-old, who has a valid Firearm Owner’s Identification card, claimed he shot the three after they broke into his home. Area South detectives continue to investigate the shootings, which were ruled homicides.
Ledesma, 22, of North Austin; Lopez, 17, of East Chicago, Ind.; and Cockriel, 24, of Humboldt Park, all suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the body at 5:30 p.m. in the 10200 block of South Ewing, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. All three were pronounced dead at the scene.
About six hours earlier, two men were killed in a shooting outside a church in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side. Emmanuel Fleming, 34, and Michael Swift, 46, were walking up the front steps of Friendship Baptist Church when they were gunned down in broad daylight, with Fleming’s young children watching.
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