Homicide Watch Chicago

BY KALEY FOWLER
Homicide Watch Chicago

Marcus McCarty was looking forward to his first day of high school, his family said.

But Marcus, 14, never got the chance to walk those halls after being shot Aug. 24 in the 1100 block of North Leclaire Avenue in the Austin community, authorities said. Marcus died about an hour later at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County.

Marcus’ mother, Sandra Bronson, described Marcus as a responsible teen who helped out around the house and did chores for his grandmother. He also enjoyed reading, especially the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series.

Marcus wasn’t always quiet, though, and his mother said he loved to debate and hoped to be a lawyer.
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BY EMILY BROSIOUS AND KALEY FOWLER
Homicide Watch Chicago

Jeremiah Shaw was a loner who avoided gangs, family and friends said.

That is why they were shocked when he was fatally shot Aug. 6 while smoking a cigarette outside his aunt’s home in the 5400 block of South Laflin Street in the Back of the Yards community, authorities and family said.

Shaw’s aunt, Samiesha Kent, said she was in her bedroom when she heard the early morning gunshots.
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BY EMILY BROSIOUS AND KALEY FOWLER
Homicide Watch Chicago

Many Austin neighborhood youths considered area business owner Damion Bryant a role model, friends said.

“Everybody looked up to him,” said friend Deangelo Henderson. “All the young guys including myself looked up to him.”

Bryant, 32, was fatally shot in the head during a drive-by shooting outside his home in the 5200 block of West Quincy Street about 8 p.m. July 11, authorities said. Three other people were wounded in the shooting.
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BY KALEY FOWLER AND EMILY BROSIOUS
Homicide Watch Chicago

Cassius White moved to Chicago from New Orleans in 2006 after being displaced by Hurricane Katrina, friends said.

White and a 16-year-old boy were wounded in a drive-by shooting July 7 in the 9600 block of South Sangamon Avenue, authorities said.

White, 19, of the 8200 block of South Dante Avenue, died later that day.

Friends described him as wise beyond his years.

“He didn’t think like kids from our generation,” said friend Arielle Williams, 18. “He had an old soul and he seemed so old, so mature. He was very intellectual.”
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BY EMILY BROSIOUS AND KALEY FOWLER
Homicide Watch Chicago

Instead of celebrating Jaynisha Schaffer’s 20th birthday, her friends and family were planning a funeral after she was fatally shot four days earlier in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood.

Schaffer, 19, was walking with a group in the 2200 block of West 69th Street when someone rode up on a bicycle and opened fire about 7:05 p.m. June 7, authorities said.
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BY EMILY BROSIOUS
Homicide Watch Chicago

It has been nearly a year since Andrew Turner was fatally shot in the North Lawndale neighborhood, and his family continues to search for answers as they struggle to cope with their loss.

“It’s still unbelievable. It’s still fresh to me. And for it still not to be solved, that hurts a lot,” said Ebony Scott, Turner’s girlfriend and mother of his two oldest children.

Turner was a “family man” who was silly but firm with his children, Scott said. He wanted to raise them to be good men.

“He took care of us,” Scott said. “He was my rock.”

Turner, 23, of the 1100 block of South Independence Boulevard, was shot in the jaw July 26, 2013, in the 3200 block of West Roosevelt Road, authorities said. He died six days later at Mount Sinai hospital.
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BY JESSICA KOSCIELNIAK AND EMILY BROSIOUS
Homicide Watch Chicago

Damian Williams was on his way to dinner when he was shot dead last Thursday in the Austin neighborhood, his brother said.

“He had just left like 10 minutes before,” said Williams’ older brother, James Williams. “It all happened so fast. All I can remember is just running down and seeing him laying right there — but I knew he was gone.”

Authorities said Damian Williams, 22, was standing with two men in the 5700 block of West Augusta Boulevard when somebody inside a tan Lincoln MKZ opened fire about 8:55 p.m. June 12.
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BY JESSICA KOSCIELNIAK AND EMILY BROSIOUS
Homicide Watch Chicago

Brandon Peterson “loved to dance” with his friends, family said.

Brandon, 17, was with those friends when he was shot in the head and leg while standing in a group in the 3100 block of West Polk Street in East Garfield Park about 12:05 a.m. Sunday, authorities said.

“I heard the gunshots and my daughter went out,” Brandon’s mother, Alicia Jefferson said. “She came in saying, ‘It’s my brother! It’s my brother!’”

Jefferson said she ran outside and saw her son’s lifeless body on the ground.
Brandon died a short time later at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

“I wouldn’t have thought this would happen in a million years, because he wasn’t a bad kid. He wasn’t a bad kid at all,” Jefferson said. “When I went to the morgue … to identify his body, it sunk in what happened.”
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BY SUSAN DU
Homicide Watch Chicago

Paris Brown had just dropped off dinner for her young daughter and was about to go on a dinner date with her fiance when she was fatally shot outside her Greater Grand Crossing home last week, family said.

Brown, 21, was sitting in a parked car outside her home in the 7100 block of South Perry Avenue in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood when an SUV pulled up alongside and somebody inside opened fire about 10:55 p.m. June 9, authorities said.

She died less than an hour later at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. A man in the car — identified by family as Brown’s fiance — was shot in the back and lower leg and treated at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, police said.

Brown had just bought the car three months ago, and the couple were going on a dinner date when the gunfire erupted, family said.
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