Homicide Watch Chicago

By JEFF MAYES
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

If you wanted a perfect example of the epidemic of violence on Chicago’s streets this year, look no farther than the Southwest Side Brainerd neighborhood last weekend.

On Saturday, a man was shot to death while standing outside his own home. On Sunday, while neighbors were conducting a memorial vigil in his honor, a young woman was killed and two other teens wounded when gunfire erupted again.

While it may seem shocking, such incidents are all too common this year in Chicago, where more than 500 homicides and 3,000 shootings have now been recorded, both figures already exceeding the total for all of 2015.

The week’s final homicide was the woman shot to death Sunday night at the vigil. KeeKee Fleming, 18, was among three people shot at 8:07 p.m. in the 8900 block of South Justine, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The group was standing outside at a vigil when a grey minivan drove up, and two people got out and began shooting, police said. The shooters then got back in the van and drove away.

Fleming, who lived on the same block, was shot in the head and was pronounced dead at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Two boys—16 and 17—were also wounded, and were taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. The 17-year-old was shot in the arm and was in critical condition, while the younger man was shot in the buttocks and was stabilized.
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A man who died after being caught in the crossfire of a gang shooting more than two weeks ago in the North Side Uptown neighborhood has been identified as 55-year-old Robert Kraft.

Kraft was walking in the 900 block of West Wilson at 6:13 p.m. Aug. 26 when one male began shooting at another, and instead struck Kraft in the back, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Kraft was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 6:51 p.m., according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. His death was ruled a homicide.

Kraft was not the intended target of the shooting, authorities said.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

What started as a memorial vigil for a slain neighbor turned more tragic when KeeKee Fleming was shot to death Sunday night on the same Brainerd neighborhood block where the man had been killed a day earlier.

KeeKee Fleming | Facebook

The group was outside at the vigil when a grey minivan drove toward them, and two people got out and began shooting, police said. They shooters then got back into the van and drove away.

Fleming, who lived on the same block, was shot in the head, and was pronounced dead at 8:40 p.m. at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, according to police and the medical examiner’s office.
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Michael “Mike Mike” Buckner was found shot to death early Monday in a vacant lot in the East Garfield Park neighborhood.

Chicago Police investigate in a lot in the 3900 block of West Monroe, where a man was shot to death early Monday. | Network Video Productions

Buckner, 33, had been shot in the legs, neck and abdomen; and pronounced dead at the scene at 2:34 a.m., according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. His home address was not known Monday afternoon.

Area North detectives are conducting a homicide investigation.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

John McKinley was shot to death late Saturday while driving in the Far South Side Pullman neighborhood.

McKinley, 36, was driving through an intersection in the 11200 block of South Langley about 11:25 p.m. when a vehicle pulled up and someone inside fired shots, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

McKinley, of the 400 block of East 113th Street, was shot multiple times. He attempted to drive away, but crashed into parked cars, police said.

He was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:14 a.m. Sunday, according to the medical examiner’s office.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

A man who died just hours after he was shot last month in the South Chicago neighborhood has been identified as 34-year-old Derrick Canady.

Canady was found shot in the head at 10:44 p.m. Aug. 13 in an alley in the 8600 block of South Essex, according to Chicago 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 1:55 a.m. Aug. 14, according to the medical examiner’s office. Canady lived about six blocks away from where he was discovered, in the 8000 block of South Essex.

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

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

By JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Victor Vazquez | Chicago Police

Victor Vazquez, 20, of the 4700 block of South Laflin, faces one count of first-degree murder for the fatal shooting of Medrano on Sept. 4, according to Chicago Police.

About 4 p.m. that Sunday, Medrano was double-parked in his vehicle in the 4500 block of South Hermitage, waiting for his wife and a friend, prosecutors said.

Vazquez was driving a white van with a passenger, and they were looking for rival gang members to shoot, prosecutors said. Vazquez pulled up next to Medrano’s vehicle and his passenger fired shots.

Medrano was shot twice in the neck, once in the head and once in the back, prosecutors said. He tried to drive away but crashed into three parked vehicles.
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A man found beaten to death inside a vehicle Thursday afternoon in Austin has been identified as 53-year-old Jerry Lee Cummings.

About 1:10 p.m., Cummings was found unresponsive, with multiple injuries including his groin, inside a vehicle near his home in the 200 block of North Lockwood, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

He was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:30 p.m., authorities said. An autopsy Friday ruled his death a homicide and showed he died of multiple injuries from an assault.

Area North detectives are conducting a death investigation, and no one was in custody as of Monday morning.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

By DANIEL BROWN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

An unmarked squad car is parked in the crime scene at the intersection of Division and Maplewood early Saturday. | Daniel Brown/Sun-Times

Michael Arquero, 32, has not been charged with murder, but was charged with one count of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, according to police.

The officers saw the initial shooting about 11:30 p.m. near the intersection of Division and Maplewood, where Rodriguez had been driving around the block and “engaging a group of males” before he was shot, police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.

Rodriguez, of the 1300 block of North Oakley, was pronounced dead at the scene at 3:30 a.m., authorities said.

The officers intervened following the shooting, and at least one opened fire and hit a man, CPD area coordinator Glen Brooks said. He was taken to a hospital with injuries that weren’t considered life-threatening.

No officers were hurt. The officer or officers involved will be placed on administrative duty for 30 days per CPD policy, and the Independent Police Review Authority is investigating the use of force, police said.
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By RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times

Myron Mason | Chicago Police

After Myron Mason’s arrest last year, Cook County prosecutors said, without providing more specifics, that Mason lashed out at Lewis because he was mad over the transmission of a sexually transmitted disease.

“I know what I did. I’m the one that called. I killed her. I killed my wife,” prosecutors said Mason, now 34, told police after he drove himself to the Grand Crossing District police station and was arrested on April 21, 2015.

While the pair’s children—ages 8 and 5—looked on, Mason shot Lewis eight times as she sat in the driver’s seat of her parked van outside her house in the 7200 block of South Bennett Avenue. Both children would later tell police it was their father who killed their mother.

Lewis’ current boyfriend saw the shooting from nearby at 72nd and Bennett, and called 911, prosecutors said last year.

Mason and Lewis, who had a 10-year relationship, had been arguing over the phone before the deadly shooting, prosecutors said.
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