Homicide Watch Chicago

Michael Evans | Facebook

By DAVID STRUETT
Homicide Watch Chicago

Before he moved back to Chicago to play semi-professional football and to marry his girlfriend, 30-year-old Michael R. Evans worked hard to succeed.

That’s what makes his untimely death to Chicago’s violence so tragic, according to his family.

“There’s so many people in different areas of the city that he touched,” Evan’s sister, Claudette Evans, said. “He’s definitely going to be missed.”

Evans, a father of one, was found lying on the ground in the early morning hours November 8, 2017.

He had been shot in the head and was pronounced dead on the scene at 2:30 a.m. in the 8100 block of South Colfax in the South Chicago neighborhood, police and the medical examiner said.

Evan’s mother and two sisters were shocked by his death. Michael was a driven young man who was never connected to the streets, according to his mother and sister.

“He was not affiliated in that street life,” his sister, Claudette Evans, said. “He wanted to better himself. Education was something he wanted to do to further his life.”  Read more

Earron D. Moore, a UPS Airlines employee and aspiring entrepreneur, was killed in a drive-by shooting in the East Garfield Park neighborhood Tuesday morning.

“He was literally the most harmless soul you’d ever meet in your life,” Moore’s older brother, Eriq Moore, said. “I’ve never met anybody who had a problem with him. Everybody just loved him.”

Earron Moore | Facebook

At 10:16 a.m., Moore, 25, was standing near the street in the 700 block of North Lawndale when someone fired shots at him from a passing vehicle, according to police and the medical examiner’s office.

Moore was shot at least once in the back and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:57 a.m. Wednesday, authorities said.

“My brother was passionate about being an entrepreneur—making it better for himself,” Eriq Moore said. “One of his dreams was to own a tow truck company. We talked about saving money together, turning one tow truck into two, two into four, working ourselves up together and starting our own corporation.”

Moore had attended Orr Academy High School, according to his Facebook page. He lived in the University Village neighborhood on the Near West Side.

“My brother was passionate about everything he did. His heart was a big as he was,” Moore said.

Moore and his brother inspired each other to believe they could improve their lives, according to Eriq Moore.

Earron Moore | Facebook

“Earron was one of the few guys in my life who believed in my dreams,” he said.

They were communicating by phone in Moore’s dying moments.

“I was talking to my brother in the midst of him dying. We were joking,” he said. To keep up his brother’s spirits, Eriq Moore joked about the hat he promised to return to his brother.

“And that was my last comment to him,” he said. “When he left, I felt him leave my body. This hat I have on my head, I didn’t get a chance to give it back. So now I have to keep it.”

Anthony Johnson was killed Wednesday afternoon in a West Garfield Park neighborhood shooting on the West Side.

Johnson, 31, was walking in a parking lot about 2:45 p.m. in the 500 block of North Kostner when a light-colored car pulled up, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

A person got out of the passenger side of the vehicle and fired once, striking Johnson in the chest, authorities said. The shooter then got back into the car and drove off.

Johnson, who lived in the Lawndale neighborhood, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:15 p.m., authorities said.

No one was in custody Wednesday as Area North detectives conducted a homicide investigation.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Romell Durr was shot to death Tuesday night in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side.

Romell Durr | Facebook

The 23-year-old Durr was standing on the sidewalk at 8:17 p.m. in the 4700 block of South Prairie when someone opened fire, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

He was shot in the abdomen and taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:52 p.m., authorities said. He lived in the Ashburn neighborhood on the Southwest Side.

No one was in custody Wednesday morning as Area Central detectives were conducting a homicide investigation.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Jonathan Gavina was shot to death Tuesday afternoon in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood on the Southwest Side.

Jonathan Gavina | Facebook

Gavina, 26, was shot in the head and side and found in the driver’s seat of a parked sedan just before 1 p.m. in the 3400 block of West 61st Street, Chicago Police and the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office said.

A witness told investigators they saw a dark-colored SUV pull away after the shooting, police said.

Gavina was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. He lived in the Archer Heights neighborhood.

Area Central detectives are investigating.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Lesean King was killed and another was critically wounded early Sunday in a Fernwood neighborhood shooting.

Lesean King | Facebook

The men were shot about 4:05 a.m. in the 10600 block of South Perry, according to Chicago Police.

King, 47, was struck in the abdomen and buttocks, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead at 5:15 a.m. He lived in the same neighborhood as the shooting.

The other man, 62, was shot in the abdomen and right leg, police said. He was taken to Christ Medical Center in critical condition.

No one was in custody as Area South detectives conducted an investigation.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

George Parker was found shot to death Monday afternoon in the West Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side.

“He was like a big brother to all the little kids that were around during the years he spent living on Constance Street,” his old friend, Antionio Robinson, said.

George Parker | Facebook

Officers responded to a call of shots fired at 12:42 p.m. and found 23-year-old Parker lying on the ground in a vacant lot in the 300 block of South Keeler, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Parker, who lived in the same neighborhood, had suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:59 p.m., authorities said.

“As his older brother, I watched him grow into a great man,” Mylon Blackmore said. “He wasn’t perfect—no one is—but he never stopped trying to grow, trying to get to a point where he didn’t have to worry about anything.”

Parker kept the mood light and cheered people up when he could, according to Blackmore.

“He always knew what to say to keep us laughing,” he said.

Additional details were not immediately available and no one was in custody Monday as Area North detectives conducted a homicide investigation.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Keayon Brooks, an 18-year-old student at Youth Connection Charter School, was fatally shot, and another male injured, in the Austin neighborhood Monday morning.

A group of males were walking when a male in a red jacket fired shots at 9:11 a.m. in the 4900 block of West Division, according to Chicago Police.

Brooks was shot and taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 9:50 a.m., police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. He lived in the Humboldt Park neighborhood.

A 17-year-old was shot in the leg and also taken to Stroger, where his condition stabilized, police said.

The glass walls of a bus stop shelter at Lamon and Division shattered during the gunfire.Read more

Manuel Godinez was shot to death Friday evening in the Back of the Yards neighborhood on the South Side.

Witnesses saw someone shoot Godinez, 35, from a dark-colored minivan that pulled up to him at 5:52 p.m. in the 4300 block of South Honore, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Godinez suffered a gunshot wound to his neck and was pronounced dead at the scene at 6:10 p.m., authorities said. He lived about a block from where he was killed.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Shurron Hawkins, a 46-year-old from West Pullman, was found shot to death Saturday morning in the Far South Side Fernwood neighborhood.

A neighbor found Hawkins lying in the snow about 8:30 a.m. in the 10200 block of South State, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Officers conducting a well-being check discovered that he’d been shot in the head.

Hawkins was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.

An autopsy Sunday found he died of multiple gunshot wounds, and his death was ruled a homicide.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire