Homicide Watch Chicago

By JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

A West Side man who accidentally fatally shot his close friend and roommate, Marsalis Homan, in the head last year in their North Lawndale apartment has been sentenced to probation.

James Gonnigan, 27, pleaded guilty to one felony count of involuntary manslaughter on July 15 before Judge Timothy Joseph Joyce, according to Cook County court records.

On Jan. 4, 2015, Gonnigan and the 20-year-old Homan were playing with a gun in the kitchen of their home in the 1300 block of South Kolin Avenue, authorities said.

Others in the house reported hearing the men talking and laughing before a single shot rang out, authorities said.

After the shooting, Gonnigan ran into a bedroom and told his girlfriend and her acquaintance that he’d shot Holman, authorities said. They found Holman lying in a pool of blood and someone called 911.
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Jose Ernesto Martinez was fatally shot Monday night about three blocks away from his home in the Gage Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side.

The 30-year-old Martinez was shot in the upper chest and armpit about 6:40 p.m. in the 5100 block of South Washtenaw Avenue, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Martinez, of the 5100 block of South Mozart, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:11 p.m., authorities said.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family with funeral expenses.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

A man fatally shot early Sunday in the South Side Calumet Heights neighborhood has been identified as 28-year-old Antonio Porterfield.

He was shot in the neck about 4:30 a.m. in the 9200 block of South Colfax, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Porterfield, of the 12000 block of South Indiana, was taken to Trinity Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:04 a.m., according to the medical examiner’s office.

Detectives questioned a person of interest after the shooting, but on Tuesday, police said that person was released without charges.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

By JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

The death of 20-year-old Omar Rangel, found shot to death in a car Sunday morning in the Southwest Side Ashburn neighborhood, is being ruled a homicide, at least according to autopsy results.

Police said they were treating the death as a suicide.

Rangel was found unresponsive with gunshot wounds to the head and chest in a parked car in the 8200 block of South Scottsdale at 6:10 a.m. Sunday, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Rangel, of the 8400 block of South Kilbourn, was pronounced dead at the scene at 6:30 a.m., according to the medical examiner’s office. An autopsy found he died of multiple gunshot wounds, and his death was ruled a homicide.

However, police said Tuesday morning his death was being investigated as a suicide.

A police source said he had a gun in his hand, and spent shell casings were found in the vehicle.

A memorial GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family pay funeral expenses.

By TYLER HOLMES
Homicide Watch Chicago

Raygene Jackson was a repentant man with a troubled past and a promising future. After being paroled from prison last year for a crime he committed when he was 17, Jackson was determined to improve life for himself and everyone around him.

“He made mistakes and he did the time for his mistakes. But he was sorry,” said Pamela Roberts, Jackson’s godmother. “He was a compassionate person. He was a lovely, caring person.”

Jackson had been with his fiancée, Faydra Rhinehart, since they were teenagers and she always remained by his side. The two were working on purchasing a house and getting married, hoping to start a life that had been put on hold for 20 years.

“When he was with me, he was the young sweet boy his mother raised,” Rhinehart remembered. “I’ve known him since I was a kid. I’ve loved him my whole life.”

Together, they had a daughter in 1994, before she was tragically shot at age three in 1997. Rhinehart later had another daughter whom Jackson happily embraced as his own.

“He never got the chance to raise any of his kids,” Rhinehart said. “He got locked up as a boy and came out a man. His life was changed. He said, ‘It took me a long time to do it, but I accepted God and I did change’.”
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Chicago Police say they don’t have much information about the fatal shooting of Jevon O’Brien early Tuesday in the Rogers Park neighborhood because witnesses are not cooperating with investigators.

O’Brien, 26, was shot in the head at 4:05 a.m. in the 1500 block of West Jonquil Terrace, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

After being hit by gunfire, O’Brien was taken by friends to Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston, where he was pronounced dead at 5:50 a.m., authorities said. He lived in the 7700 block of North Paulina.

Additional information on the shooting was not available as witnesses were not cooperating with investigators, police said.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

By MITCHELL ARMENTROUT and ANDY GRIMM
Chicago Sun-Times

A 22-year-old Chicago man—paroled last year for an armed robbery on Valentine’s Day in 2013—has been charged with killing Jeremy D. Hunter and Steven Tate this past Valentine’s Day on the South Side.

Marquise Hollerway faces two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the Feb. 14 shooting deaths.

A neighbor found the bodies of the 25-year-old Hunter, who’d been shot in the head; and the 26-year-old Tate, who was shot multiple times, just before 11 a.m. Feb. 14 inside an apartment in the 5000 block of South Champlain Avenue.

Witnesses told police they saw Hollerway leave the apartment moments after hearing gunfire, Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Liam Reardon said at a hearing Saturday where a judge ordered the suspected killer held without bond.
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South suburban resident Reginald Fleming Jr. was killed in a shooting in the West Pullman neighborhood Monday afternoon on the Far South Side.

About 4:30 p.m., the 18-year-old Fleming was walking through a vacant lot in the 12000 block of South Prairie. A dark car pulled up nearby and someone inside shot him in the head, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Fleming, who lived in the 2100 block of 175th Street in Lansing, was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead at 7:51 p.m., the medical examiner’s office said.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

A Far South Side man was charged with shooting 51-year-old Bruce E. Smith to death last week in the Back of the Yards neighborhood.

Lamar Chambers, 25, faces first-degree murder charges for the Wednesday killing, according to Chicago Police.

About 12:35 a.m., the pair got into an argument in the street outside Smith’s home in the 5100 block of South Honore and Chambers shot the older man in the chest, authorities allege.

Smith was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12:55 a.m., the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.

Chambers, of the 11000 block of South Green, was ordered held on a $1 million bond at Friday, according to the Cook County sheriff’s office. He is due in court again Oct. 12.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

An 18-year-old man has been charged with the murder of Jesus Santiago Valois, killed in a shooting last month in the West Side Homan Square neighborhood.

Francisco Saldana faces first-degree murder charges for the Aug. 21 attack in the 3700 block of West Grenshaw, according to Chicago Police.

Officers responding to a call of a person shot about 12:05 a.m. in the 3700 block of West Grenshaw found the 24-year-old Valois on the porch of his home with a gunshot wound to the chest, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

He had been shot at a different location before walking back home to tell his family what happened, police said.

Valois, known as “Chacho,” was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died at 1:30 a.m., authorities said.

Saldana, of the 5300 block of South Maplewood, was arrested Thursday and appeared in court Friday. A judge ordered him held on a $1 million bond, according to the Cook County sheriff’s office, and he is due in court again Oct. 12.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family with funeral expenses.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire