Homicide Watch Chicago

Andrew Dehart was found shot to death early Sunday on the block where he lived in the Lawndale neighborhood on the Southwest Side.

Officers responding to a call of a person shot shortly before 2 a.m. found the 33-year-old lying face down in the street in the 1500 block of South Trumbull, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Dehart had been shot in the face, and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 2:30 a.m., authorities said. He lived on the same block as the shooting.

Area Central detectives were conducting a homicide investigation.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Donzell L. Brewster was attacked and shot to death early Friday in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side.

The 23-year-old Brewster as standing outside about 12:05 a.m. in the 4800 block of West Quincy, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Another man approached, grabbed him from behind and shot him in the head, police said.

The suspect then fired multiple shots at Brewster’s body before running away south on Cicero Avenue, authorities said.

Brewster, who lived about four blocks from where he was shot, was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:24 a.m., according to the medical examiner’s office.

No one was in custody as Area North detectives investigate.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family with funeral expensesfor Brewster, who had attended Crane Tech High School.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

A 23-year-old man has been charged with the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Antonio Monteza earlier this month in the North Side Rogers Park neighborhood where both lived.

Gervase Pruett | Chicago Police

Monteza was hanging out with friends at a gas station about 2:40 a.m. Sept. 12 in the 7500 block of North Sheridan, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Pruett walked up to the group and opened fire, striking the teen in the head and abdomen, police said.

Monteza, who lived just blocks away, was taken to Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston, where he was pronounced dead at 3:26 a.m., authorities said. An autopsy ruled his death a homicide.

Pruett was taken into custody Thursday, police said.

He was ordered held without bond on the murder charge, according to Cook County sheriff’s office. He is also being held on a $50,000 bond on the aggravated battery charge.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Downstate resident Perry Stroger was shot to death Thursday afternoon during a fight in the West Side Austin neighborhood, but police say the man suspected of shooting him has been released without charges.

The 48-year-old Stroger was approached by a 32-year-old man about 12:30 p.m. Thurday in the 5800 block of West Cortland, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.

The two men got into a fight, and at some point, the younger man pulled out a gun and fired shots.

Stroger, a Chicago native who had moved to Urbana, was struck in the head, and taken to Community First Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, authorities said.

The 32-year-old was taken into custody for questioning, police said. But on Saturday, police said he had been released without charges.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

A man shot to death Friday night in the Hegewisch neighborhood on the Far South Side has been identified as 28-year-old Guy Lopez of Morgan Park.

Lopez was traveling inside a vehicle about 8:15 p.m. in the 13700 block of South Torrence when another vehicle drove past and someone inside opened fire, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

He was struck multiple times, and was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. An autopsy showed he died of multiple gunshot wounds.

No one was in custody as Area South detectives investigate.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Manuel J. Hernandez was killed and a second man was wounded in a drive-by shooting early Thursday in the Gage Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side.

The men, both 30, were inside a vehicle at 1:03 a.m. in the 5100 block of South Albany, according to Chicago Police.

Another vehicle drove up and someone inside fired shots, police said. Both victims suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

Hernandez, a Cicero resident known as “Manny” or “Stoney,” was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:25 a.m., according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The other victim was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition.

‘Manny’ Hernandez | GoFundMe

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

May Hernandez, who set up the page, wrote: “Today … we lost the most loving and caring person we all knew. The person who walked in a room with the most biggest smile.

“Manny was a loving father, son, brother, cousin, and friend. God had other plans for him and as family, we will do our best to carry on his legacy.”

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

At least 16 people were killed during the week of September 11-17 in Chicago shootings, which included a gang-fueled incident on the Southwest Side that left four people, including a pregnant woman, dead.

Sun-Times file photo by Ashlee Rezin

And when it was all over, the city’s homicide total for the year stood at 499, with the 500th to follow shortly when a man who was shot late Sunday died the following day.

The four, a pregnant woman, the father of her child, that man’s brother and a friend, were shot to death Friday evening in a rifle attack the Brighton Park neighborhood. The victims were found in a car about 8:35 p.m. in the 4700 block of South Fairfield, Chicago Police said.

Michelle Adrian Cano, 21; Joel Sandoval, 24; Miguel Sandoval, 27; and Ida Arvizu, 28, were all pronounced dead at the scene, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Friends said the Sandovals were brothers, and Joel Sandoval was the father of Arvizu’s unborn son and 7-year-old daughter.

Chicago Police Sgt. Al Stinites said officers were responding to a call of shots fired when they found the four dead in the vehicle. Patrols in the 9th District were being stepped up Friday night in response to the killings, believed to be the result of an escalating turf war between two local gangs. Police and the local alderman said the killings were just the latest flare-ups in the ongoing gang war in Brighton Park and Back of the Yards.

In other shootings last week:

• A woman was killed and two people were wounded in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood Sunday evening on the Southwest Side. About 8:20 p.m., they were sitting inside a parked vehicle in the 6000 block of South Richmond when a man got out of a silver vehicle and fired shots, according to police. The woman, identified as 42-year-old Catherine Barnett, was struck in the head and was pronounced dead at the scene. Barnett lived on the same block as the shooting. A 37-year-old man was shot in the chest, and was taken in serious condition to Stroger Hospital, police said. A bullet grazed a third person in the nose, but they refused treatment and were uncooperative with officers, police said.

Read more

Joshua Rayborn, a father of two and rising hip-hop star, was shot to death Monday night outside his home in the Bridgeport neighborhood on the South Side.

When he wasn’t home with his wife and two kids, Joshua Rayborn performed hip-hop under the name Rate YK. | Facebook

Shots were fired and Rayborn was struck in the chest, authorities said. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Rayborn is married with two children, and his family was home at the time of the shooting, though no one else was injured. He performed under the moniker Rate YK.

Family members put up a small memorial outside the building on Wednesday.
Read more

Issac Royal Harper, the nephew of a Chicago Police officer, was shot to death Tuesday night while standing on the back porch of his family’s home in the Longwood Manor neighborhood on the South Side.

The 21-year-old Harper was sitting on a back porch with his sister at 9:38 p.m. in the 9700 block of South Green, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Someone fired shots, striking him multiple times in the shoulder, leg and hip, police said.

Harper was pronounced dead at the scene less than 30 minutes later, authorities said.

Harper, originally from Champaign, was a graduate of Perspectives Charter School and was taking college courses online while working for Amazon. His aunt is a Chicago Police officer,

Area South detectives were conducting a homicide investigation, but no one was in custody as of Wednesday morning.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

By TOM SCHUBA
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

John Bolden was killed late Sunday in a Washington Heights neighborhood drive-by shooting on the Far South Side, marking the city’s 500th homicide of 2017.

The 47-year-old Bolden was sitting in a parked car at 11:22 p.m. on the block where he lived in the 10100 block of South Racine, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Someone in a passing gray van fired shots, striking him multiple times in the side of the body, police said.

Bolden was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died at 12:20 a.m. on Monday, police said.

No one was in custody as Area South detectives investigate, police said.

Bolden’s death was the 500th homicide in the city this year, and the 465th shooting death of 2017, according to data maintained by the Chicago Sun-Times.

Last year, the city reached 500 homicides 14 days sooner, Sun-Times data shows. as of this date last year, there had been 534 homicides in 2016.