By JEFFMAYES
Homicide Watch Chicago
At least 13 people were shot to death last week in Chicago. The death toll included two men who where struck when gunshots were fired in separate incidents on a West Side expressway about six hour apart; and a 17-year-old girl who was killed by a stray bullet when two groups started shooting at each other in Back of the Yards.
One man was shot and killed on the Eisenhower late Thursday morning. Troopers responded to shots fired about 11:50 a.m. in the eastbound lanes of I-290 at Central Avenue, according to Illinois State Police. A passenger in a vehicle, 23-year-old Devon Almon, was shot and the driver took him to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, authorities said.
Almon was pronounced dead about 30 minutes later. The female driver was not wounded. The ramp from I-290 eastbound to Central Avenue was closed for more than two hours after the shooting.
And just a few hours earlier, a man was killed and a woman wounded in another shooting on the Ike on the West Side. The victims were shot about 5:30 a.m. on westbound I-290 near Laramie, according to state police. They were found a few minutes before 6 a.m. at Flournoy and Lockwood and taken to Stroger Hospital, police said.
Jonathan Ortiz, 22, was pronounced dead at the hospital at 6:18 a.m., according to the medical examiner’s office. The woman was initially listed in critical condition, but was later released from the hospital. Police closed all westbound I-290 lanes in the area for more than four hours to investigate.
Seventeen-year-old Naome Zuber, a Curie High School student, was fatally shot while riding in a car in the Back of the Yards neighborhood early Saturday. Family members and police do not believe she was the intended target. Read more
A man found shot to death Tuesday morning in the South Side Washington Heights neighborhood has been identified as 25-year-old Said E. Hayik of west suburban Cicero.
Hayik was found laying in a gangway with a gunshot wound to the back of the head at 92nd and Bishop at 7:35 a.m., according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Police said it appeared he had been there for some time.
Hayik lived in the 5200 block of West 23rd Street in Cicero.
Samuel Michael Rockett Jr. was killed and another man injured in a shooting early Monday in the West Side Austin neighborhood.
At 3:34 a.m., the 32-year-old Rockett was shot in the head and a 26-year-old man suffered three gunshot wounds to the neck, chest and jaw in the 100 block of North Central Avenue, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Rockett was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:06 a.m., according to the medical examiner’s office. He lived in the 100 bock of Bellwood Avenue in west suburban Bellwood.
The younger man was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition, police said.
Officers could be seen going in and out of the apartment building where the shooting occurred, while one officer with a camera walked around the building shooting video. No one was in custody as of Tuesday evening.
A man who was fatally shot Sunday afternoon in the Lawndale neighborhood has been identified as 28-year-old Lazerrick Ratliff.
Ratliff was shot in the back at 4:02 p.m. in the 2000 block of South Homan, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
He was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital at 4:42 p.m., according to the medical examiner’s office. He lived in the 5000 block of West West End Avenue.
An autopsy found he died of multiple gunshot wounds.
Budding young artist and musician Corvus “Chrono” Humphries was killed and another was wounded in a shooting Sunday morning outside a CTA Pink Line station on the Southwest Side.
Officers responded to a call of a fight outside the California station in the 2000 block of South California at 7:38 a.m., according to Chicago Police.
Humphries, 20, was shot in the neck and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He lived in the 8600 block of South Honore.
A 24-year-old man was shot in the buttocks and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where his condition was stabilized.
Friends said Humphries had just been dropped off at the station and was not involved in the altercation. Read more
Adrianna Mayes, a young mother who was holding her infant child, was was killed when she was caught in the crossfire as a group of men exchanged gunfire Monday afternoon near her home in the Roseland neighborhood. The baby was not injured.
Mayes and a 22-year-old man were struck when two groups of males exchanged gunfire about 2 p.m. at 106th and State, according to Chicago Police.
She was standing outside talking to a neighbor who was sitting in a car when she was shot in her left side. She was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where she was pronounced dead at 2:56 p.m., according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Mayes, a graduate of Whitney Young Magnet School who was studying business administration at Olive Harvey College, was not believed to be the intended target of the shooting.
The man who was shot took himself to Roseland Community Hospital with a wound to the left hand, and was listed in good condition.
Mayes’ 14-month-old daughter was not injured.
—Chicago Sun-Times Wire
A reputed member of a faction of the Gangster Disciples street gang, Khalil Yameen, has been charged in the deadly gang-related shooting of Tracey Morgan, who led to the execution-stye murder of 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee, Cook County prosecutors claim.
After Yameen and another man killed Tracey Morgan and wounded Morgan’s mother in 2015, Morgan’s brother, Corey, sought revenge. Enraged that his brother was killed and his “mama was shot” as part of a feud between rival gangs, Corey Morgan proclaimed that “he was going to kill grandmas, mamas, kids and all,” according to prosecutors.
Corey Morgan and two fellow members of his gang lured Tyshawn from Dawes Park and into a nearby alley last Nov. 2 by promising to buy the boy candy. One of those men shot Tyshawn in the head, according to prosecutors.
Authorities believe Tyshawn was targeted as part of the ongoing gang war. Read more
A judge has ordered a 29-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy held on $1 million bonds after they were arrested last week and charged with the fatal shooting of Jose Ernesto Martinez in Gage Park.
Martin Bendik was charged Friday with first-degree murder for the death of the 30-year-old Martinez, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. His co-defendant, 16-year-old Dominick Debock, was charged Thursday with first-degree murder.
About 6:40 p.m. Monday, Sept. 26, Martinez was walking on the sidewalk in the 5100 block of South Washtenaw, just blocks away from his home in the 5100 block of South Mozart.
Debock got out of a gray Honda CRV driven by Bendik, walked up to Martinez, pulled out a semi-automatic handgun and fired several shots, prosecutors said. The teen was wearing a black and red Chicago Bulls jacket at the time. Read more
Jean Vital was shot to death early Saturday while driving in the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side.
Just before 1 a.m., the 35-year-old Vital was driving west on 79th Street when he heard gunshots near the intersection of Champlain and realized he’d been struck in the buttocks, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
His car crashed nearby. Vital, of the 1300 block of West Estes, was taken by paramedics to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 2:38 a.m., according to the medical examiner’s office.
An autopsy found he died of a gunshot wound to the buttock, and his death was ruled a homicide.
Seventeen-year-old Naome Zuber, a Curie High School student, was fatally shot while riding in a car in the Back of the Yards neighborhood early Saturday.
Family members and police do not believe she was the intended target of the shooting.
The teen was in the backseat of a vehicle traveling north in the 4500 block of South Wood about 12:30 a.m. when a male on the sidewalk shot her in the head, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office and Chicago Police.
She was taken to Holy Cross Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 12:52 a.m., the medical examiner’s office and police said. She lived in the 5400 block of South Kenneth.
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…
