When 8-year-old Lavelle Martin found his father stabbed in their Chicago Lawn home he tried to save his life by applying pressure with a towel to the bleeding chest wound as puddles of blood formed on the floor.
Despite Lavelle’s efforts, Larry Martin was declared dead at 7:46 p.m. Wednesday night at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
“His last words was to me,” Lavelle said. “He said, ‘I’m gonna die, but I love you.’”
Martin, 28, was stabbed about 6:40 p.m. Wednesday at his home in the 6800 block of South Talman Avenue, authorities said. A bleeding Martin tried to follow his attacker into the street, but fell down the stairs, Lavelle said. Read more
Pierce Curry, 17, was shot and killed early Tuesday morning, as he and his friends drove in the 6200 block of S. State St. Curry was preparing for his senior year in high school, and hoped to go to college after that, his mother said. She and his sisters shared their memories of him in this short video.
Dovone Jackson was angry Monday night that his ex-girlfriend was driving through the neighborhood with their 4-year-old daughter and another man, family members said. An argument ensued, escalating into a fight that ended with a single gunshot. Jackson died in the hospital Tuesday morning. The shooting is described, and the 23-year-old West Pullman man is remembered, in our latest video report.
EDITOR’S NOTE:This report is an installment of The Ripple Effect, an occasional series in partnership with the Chicago Sun-Times that looks at the toil the city’s violence epidemic has on the families and friends of murder victims. In this installment, multimedia journalist Jessica Koscielniak and video producer Peter Holderness explore the life and death of 19-year-old Ashley Hardmon and the void her family must now face with her loss.
Tiffany Hardmon trembled in the arms of her husband, Anthony, as they slowly walked down the center aisle of New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church on the West Side.
At the front of the church, the white-and-pink open casket stood vertically, holding the body of their 19-year-old daughter, Ashley Hardmon.
It’s exactly what Tiffany Hardmon requested for her “princess.”
“My baby ain’t gonna be looked down on,” Tiffany Hardmon, 39, said earlier in the week while planning funeral arrangements with Reliable Funeral Services director Anthony Hardman.
Ashley Hardmon — affectionately known as “Muffin” — was shot in the back of the head while standing with friends in the 4800 block of West Potomac about 9:40 p.m. July 2.
Homicide Watch Chicago is dedicated to the proposition that murder is never a run-of-the-mill story. Attention must be paid to each one, not merely a select and particularly tragic few. We understand the reality of the public’s demand for news - that some stories get more attention than others. But all murders represent a degree of human suffering - direct and indirect - that cannot be ignored. Read more…
