Homicide Watch Chicago

By SIMONE ALICEA and JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

A 33-year-old man has been charged with reckless homicide for a hit-and-run crash that left 57-year-old Carmen Maria Vanegas dead and her husband seriously injured Sunday morning in Avondale.

A woman was killed in a four-car crash that also left her husband in critical condition Sunday morning in the Avondale neighborhood on the Northwest Side. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Missak was driving a white Jaguar with Illinois plates “DO R DI” westbound in the 3200 block of Belmont Avenue about 7 a.m. Sunday when he ran a red light at the intersection of Kedzie Avenue, police said.

The Jaguar hit the passenger side of a Chevrolet that was northbound on Kedzie, sending it spinning into two other cars in oncoming traffic, police said.

The driver of the Jaguar, later identified as Missak, took after the crash and left his car, but someone took a photo of him as he was running away, according to a police source.

Vanegas, the passenger in the Chevrolet, was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where she died at 7:39 a.m., according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. She lived in the 3900 block of West 58th Place.
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A man killed in a drive-by shooting late Thursday in the East Garfield Park neighborhood has been identified as 35-year-old Jamaal Bellamy.

A red car approached Bellamy in the 700 block of South Saint Louis about 10:50 p.m. and someone inside fired shots, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Bellamy was struck in the chest, arm and side; and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:36 p.m. He lived in the 1500 block of West 59th Street.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Devonte M. Dodd | Chicago Police

A second man has been charged with murder after 32-year-old Pamela Johnson was struck by a pickup on Lake Shore Drive last weekend as she and her boyfriend tried to run away from an armed robbery.

Devonte M. Dodd, 20, was charged with two counts of murder and one count of attempted robbery with a firearm, as well as a misdemeanor count of mob action, according to Chicago Police.

Dodd is accused of approaching the 32-year-old Johnson and her boyfriend, 43-year-old Eugene Jackson, and announcing a robbery about 1:30 a.m. May 29 in the 600 block of North Lake Shore Drive, police said.
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Anthony Williams was stabbed to death during a fight Monday morning in the Roseland neighborhood on the Far South Side.

Williams, 52, was fighting with someone in the 11400 block of South Indiana about 7:54 a.m. when the other person stabbed him multiple times, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Williams, of the 11700 block of South Perry, was pronounced dead at the scene at 8:06 a.m., according to the medical examiner’s office.

The suspect ran away after the stabbing and was not in custody, police said.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

By ASHLEE REZIN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Chicago Police investigate after a 43-year-old man was found dead with a gunshot wound inside a home in the 8100 block of South Harvard late Sunday, June 5, 2016. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Officers performing a well-being check about 11:30 p.m. found the 43-year-old unresponsive inside his home in the 8100 block of South Harvard, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Nichols suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene at 11:41 p.m., according to the medical examiner’s office. His death was ruled a homicide.

More than two dozen people gathered on the street early Monday as detectives investigated inside the two-story bungalow, which was blocked by red crime scene tape.
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Brandon Homan | Chicago Police

A man has been charged with the murder of his 2-month-old son Bryson Lee Micah Holman on Saturday in the Southwest Side Ashburn neighborhood.

Brandon Holman, 34, was charged Monday with two counts of murder, according to Chicago Police.

Holman called for medical assistance for his unresponsive son at their home in the 3200 block of West 83rd Place at noon, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. The infant was pronounced dead when paramedics arrived.
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By ANDY GRIMM
Chicago Sun-Times

Semaj Waters | Chicago Police

Cook County prosecutors allege Semaj Waters was in a group of seven or eight men who tried to rob Johnson and her boyfriend, Eugene Jackson, then chased the couple into traffic near Ohio Street.

“There is just enough probable cause here for me to find that something went on, and this individual was involved,” Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr. said, addressing Waters’ father and a group of a half-dozen other relatives in the courtroom gallery.

“You cannot deny the fact that a woman is now deceased, a mother … people loved her,” the judge said, looking toward members of Johnson’s family seated at the opposite corner of the gallery.
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Sami Talab Salaymeh, a northwest suburban man, was killed and a woman injured in a South Loop shooting early Monday.

About 4 a.m., the 27-year-old Salaymeh and a 23-year-old woman were in a vehicle in the 2400 block of South Michigan Avenue when two people walked up, one of whom pulled out a gun and opened fire, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Salaymeh was shot in the abdomen and arm; and the woman suffered a gunshot wound to the right leg, authorities said.

They drove themselves to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where Salaymeh was pronounced dead at 4:41 a.m., according to the medical examiner’s office. He lived in the 3800 block of Windjammer Lane in Hanover Park.

The woman was listed in good condition, police said.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

By DANIEL BROWN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

The death of 84-year-old Henry S. McCann Jr. following a garage explosion last week at his Far South Side Morgan Park neighborhood home has been ruled a homicide.

About 4 a.m. Tuesday, McCann saw someone in his backyard trying to break into the garage of his home in the 11200 block of South Green Street, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

McCann went outside to investigate, and the male suspect ran away. But when the elderly man opened the door to check the garage, something inside exploded, authorities said.

He was taken to Roseland Hospital suffering burns, and was later transferred to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4 p.m. Friday, authorities said.

An autopsy Sunday found McCann died of complications from thermal injuries, with heart disease listed as a secondary cause. The medical examiner’s office ruled the death a homicide.

The fire from the explosion spread to three other garages, police said.

No one was in custody as CPD’s Bomb and Arson Unit investigates.

Christian Bandemer | Facebook

Anthony Mendoza was arrested Friday and charged with first-degree murder, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

The teen was shot in the chest about 11:35 a.m. in the 3500 block of South Parnell, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

A police source said the shooting was initially thought to be accidental, happening while the boys, along with Bandemer’s cousin, were playing with the gun.

Bandemer, who lived in the 900 block of West 36th Street, just a few blocks from where he was was shot, was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.

An autopsy Saturday found he died from a shotgun wound to the chest, and his death was ruled a homicide, the medical examiner’s office said.

But Mendoza allegedly told the cousin not to talk to police about what happened, and while he was being taken in for questioning, allegedly admitted to the crime in a video post on Snapchat, sources said.

Judge Peggy Chiampas ordered Mendoza held on a $250,000 bond Sunday, and if he does post bond, no guns are to be allowed in his home. He is next scheduled to appear in court June 24.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire