Homicide Watch Chicago

James Crum | Chicago Police

James Crum, 29, faces first-degree murder charges for the Feb. 5 slaying of Williams, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Crum shot the younger man in the back while he was playing video games inside a basement apartment about 11:30 p.m. in the 7100 block of South Calumet, police allege.
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Deandre Trotter was killed and another man critically injured in a Humboldt Park neighborhood shooting Thursday afternoon.

Trotter, 23, and an 18-year-old man were standing in the 3400 block of West Chicago at 3:26 p.m. Two males dressed all in black ran up to them, opened fire and ran away, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Both men suffered multiple gunshot wounds and were taken to Stroger Hospital. Trotter was pronounced dead at 4:02 p.m. and the younger man was listed in critical condition, authorities said.

Trotter lived in the 10900 block of South Racine.

A GoFundMe page has been established to help cover funeral expenses.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Jonathan Sanchez was shot to death just a block from his Austin neighborhood home on the West Side late Thursday.

Officers were called to the 4700 block of West Huron about 11:50 p.m., and found Sanchez, 23, lying on the sidewalk, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Sanchez, of the 4600 block of West Huron, was shot in the head and was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.

Family members said he was walking home from work when he was shot.

Friends have started a GoFundMe page to help with funeral expenses.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Lauren Membreno died Saturday, one day after being shot in the head in the West Elsdon neighborhood, a shooting in which she was not the intended target, according to police.

Membreno, 23, was in the front seat of a parked vehicle about 7 p.m. Friday in the 5500 block of South Karlov. That’s when another vehicle pulled up and someone inside opened fire, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Membreno—who wasn’t the intended target—was shot in the head and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she was died at 5:37 p.m. Saturday, authorities said. She lived in the 5300 block of South Spaulding.

A police source said her boyfriend, who was sitting in the driver seat, was thought to have been the intended target.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

By SIMONE ALICEA
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Emmanuel Raya | Chicago Police

Emmanuel Raya, 32, faces one count of first-degree murder for fatally shooting the 24-year-old Laureano on March 18, according to court documents.

Laureano and her cousin, both Spanish Cobra members, drove into the city from the suburbs that evening to pick up friends, prosecutors said.

Laureano stayed in the car after they stopped about 5:20 p.m. outside of a store at 2759 N. Kilbourn, prosecutors said. While her cousin and friends walked toward the store, someone in a passing vehicle began to yell gang slogans at the cousin, who responded with gang signs and slogans.
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By LUKE WILUSZ
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Deandre Johnson | Chicago Police

Deandre Johnson, 29, has been charged with first-degree murder for fatally shooting 32-year-old Roderick Snowden in the 6100 block of South Sangamon, according to court records and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Johnson was dating a woman he met through Snowden, and she moved in with him about a month before the shooting occurred, prosecutors said. After an argument sometime between Christmas and New Year’s Day, the woman stole drugs, cash and a gun from Johnson’s house before moving out.

The woman told a friend about the theft, and that friend later told Johnson and Snowden about it, according to court documents. During a phone conversation with the woman’s friend, Johnson threatened both the friend and Snowden, believing the woman and Snowden had conspired to steal from him.
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Sixty-five-year-old Ramon Ramirez was found stabbed to death inside a vehicle early Friday in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood on the Northwest Side.

He was found unresponsive with “possible trauma” at 1:02 a.m. inside his SUV, which was parked on the 5700 block of West Grand Avenue, Chicago Police said.

Ramirez, who lived on the same block where he died, was pronounced dead at 2:55 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

An autopsy Friday found he died from a stab wound to the leg, and his death was ruled a homicide, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Family members told police they believe he was a robbed. No one was in custody as of Friday afternoon.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

By RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times

Deshun Jones | Chicago Police

Deshun Jones and Terran Scott shot Pledge on March 2 inside Division Quick Stop and Cellular at 3657 W. Division, Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Matt Howroyd said.

Pledge was a member of the Four Corner Hustlers, as are the two gunmen, Howroyd said.

While Jones talked to someone at the back at the store that afternoon, Scott kept entering and exiting the store while talking and texting on his cellphone, Howroyd said.

Pledge, 31, walked in, and when he went to the counter, Scott came in through the front entrance and shot him several times in the back, according to prosecutors.
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By RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times

Kevin Hines | Chicago Police

Kevin Hines joined Kenneth Jackson and a third person in accosting the 16-year-old after the teen or his friend made comments to Jackson’s 12-year-old daughter, Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Marilyn Salas-Wail said.

Witnesses had heard Jackson yelling at Flournoy at a South Side store earlier on April 5, 2014, over the alleged comments.

Jackson left the area of the 1000 block of East 93rd Street but returned 90 minutes later with Hines and the other person, Salas-Wail said.
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By RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times

Kristian Taylor | Chicago Police

Kristian Taylor’s attorney, Michael Oppenheimer, said Burpo’s shooting death was “tangentially” connected to Tyshawn’s, while maintaining his client’s innocence.

Witnesses to the late-night Sept. 19, 2013 incident are all gang-bangers who recently decided to come forward and pin Burpo’s murder on Taylor, 29, Oppenheimer said.

“My client had nothing to do with it. He is innocent,” the defense attorney said after Taylor appeared before Cook County Judge Peggy Chiampas.
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