Homicide Watch Chicago

Francina Lowery | Facebook

By BLAIR PADDOCK
Homicide Watch Chicago

At 23, Francina Lowery was turning her life around for her kids, according to her friend Tracy Farmer.

She was taking classes and making an effort to see the 2- and 4-year-olds, but now she will not be there for them.

Lowery was shot July 6 about 6:30 p.m. in the 4400 block of West Haddon in Humboldt Park. She was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Chicago Police.

“Francina and her kids had a bond that no one could ever break,” her sister, Lora Lowery, said.
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Popular South Side resident Derrick “Ricky” Nabors Jr. was shot to death early Saturday near the Parkway Gardens public housing complex, just a couple of blocks from his home.

Officers responding to a call of shots fired found the 31-year-old with multiple gunshot wounds about 2:15 a.m. in the 6200 block of South King Drive, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Nabors, a Washington Park neighborhood resident, was pronounced dead at the scene at 2:26 a.m., according to the medical examiner’s office.

The circumstances of the attack were unknown, police said, and no one was in custody.

A friend wrote of Nabors opn Facebook: “I can’t believe it but Ricky Nabors was a good person, he was the peacemaker. He never gotten into trouble. He was shot down this past weekend and had nothing to do with the situation at hand.”

Another wrote: “My dearest friend derrick- Ricky Nabors. What can I say. You was one of the most brightest students that attended Saint Louis job corps when I worked there and even after you completed you still made sure you kept in touch. You will truly be missed by all that has come across your path from the gospel songs you use to sing, the prayers you use to always give us, to the kind spirit you showed us. Heaven has gained another angel. Look over all of us.”

And a note posted with the following video read: “Remembering Ricky Nabors… To Derrick Sr., Ms. Lillie, Tanya, Toya, Tavia, Ms. Martha and all of the family… My sincere and heartfelt condolences…I wish I could bring him back home to you….”

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire and Homicide Watch Chicago

By JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

The fatal shooting of 17-year-old Charles K. Macklin was ruled a homicide, but the off-duty Chicago Fire Department lieutenant who shot the boy claims it was a matter of self-defense.

The lieutenant told police he shot the teenage boy who tried to steal his car last Monday in the West Side Austin neighborhood, authorities said.

About 9:30 a.m., the 45-year-old lieutenant left his vehicle running in the 1400 block of North Lockwood, when the boy got inside and tried to drive off, according to Chicago Police and Fire Department officials.

The lieutenant fired his weapon at the teen, who was trying to run him over with the vehicle, authorities said.

The boy, identified as Macklin, who lived in the same neighborhood, was shot in the chest and was taken to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, where he was pronounced dead at 9:33 a.m., police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.

An autopsy Tuesday showed he died of the chest wound, and his death was ruled a homicide, according to the medical examiner’s office.

The lieutenant has a concealed-carry permit and an FOID card, authorities said.

Fire Media Affairs Director Larry Langford confirmed the man’s position with the department. He said the lieutenant was not injured in the shooting, but was taken to a hospital for observation.

Area North detectives are investigating.

On Wednesday, members of the Revolution Club Chicago led a protest on the block where the shooting took place, calling for justice and a thorough investigation of the shooting.

Adrian Lopez died Sunday afternoon after being shot Saturday night in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on the Northwest side.

Someone approached the 18-year-old about 7:10 p.m. in the 3300 block of West Potomac, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Lopez was shot in the head, authorities said.

He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died at 2:06 p.m. Sunday, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

He lived in the West Ridge neighborhood on the North Side.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Two men are behind bars Monday, charged with the fatal beating of 51-year-old Joaquin Clara, a father and grandfather, last Wednesday night in the Northwest Side Belmont Cragin neighborhood.

Rogelio Arroyo (left) and Thomas Ocasio | Chicago Police

On Saturday, Rogelio Arroyo, a 31-year-old from the Galewood neighborhood; and Thomas Ocasio, a 46-year-old from the West Elsdon neighborhood, were both charged with first-degree murder in connection with Clara’s death, police said.

Prosecutors said Ocasio beat Clara with a baseball bat and a brick, while Arroyo served as a lookout.

Authorities said Clara was homeless. An autopsy Friday found he suffered blunt-force injuries to his head, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. His death was ruled a homicide.

Family members have started a GoFundMe page to help offset funeral expenses.
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Sixteen-year-old Theotis ‘TJ’ Luckett was shot to death early Saturday morning in the East Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side.

The teen was shot in the back about 3:45 a.m. in the 3600 block of West Ohio, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead an hour-and-a-half later.

The father of an infant son, Luckett lived in the Pulaski Park neighborhood on the Northwest Side, authorities said. Family members said he was walking home after a visit with his son when he was shot.

The circumstances of the shooting were not immediately known as Area North detectives investigate.

Luckett was the third person shot in the neighborhood in about five hours from late Friday into early Saturday.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Brandon Cathey, who was wounded Saturday evening in an Englewood neighborhood shooting on the South Side, deid Sunday morning.

The 24-year-old Cathey was unresponsive on the ground when officers arrived just after 11 p.m. in the 6200 block of South Laflin, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

He had been shot in the head, and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died at 9:12 a.m. Sunday, police and the medical examiner’s office said.

The father of two lived in the South Side Grand Boulevard neighborhood.

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

There were no suspects in custody as Area South detectives investigate.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Gerard Mayo was killed in a shooting early Sunday in the Woodlawn neighborhood on the South Side.

The 35-year-old Mayo was shot in the torso at 1:38 a.m. in the 6400 block of South Champlain, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Mayo, who lived on the Far South Side, was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he died at 5:25 a.m., police and the medical examiner’s office said.

Area Central detectives were investigating, and no suspects were in custody.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Matthias Bowen of south suburban South Holland was fatally shot at an Englewood neighborhood gas station late Friday on the South Side.

At 11:20 p.m., a Chrysler 300 pulled up to the 35-year-old Bowen at a station in the 5900 block of South Morgan, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

At least two people got out of the car with guns and opened fire, police said.

Bowen was shot in the head and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he died at 6:26 p.m. on Saturday, the medical examiner’s office said.

The suspects may have taken Bowen’s vehicle, police said.

No one was in custody as detectives investigate.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

By SAM CHARLES, MITCH DUDEK and JON SEIDEL
Chicago Sun-Times

Wyndham Lathem (left) and Andrew Warren are escorted separately by police after arriving in Chicago to be interviewed by detectives early Saturday. Warren, an Oxford University financial officer, and Lathem, a former Northwestern University professor, have been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Trenton James Cornell-Duranleau. | Jim Young/Associated Press

But the plan went sideways, ending with the gruesome death of an innocent young man, authorities allege. And, in a new twist, it led to a close call for a second person.

The gruesome details of 26-year-old Trenton Cornell-Duranleau’s demise surfaced last week when his boyfriend, 43-year-old Wyndham Lathem, who was fired by Northwestern University, joined 56-year-old Andrew Warren, of Oxford University, in front of Cook County Judge Adam Bourgeois at the Leighton Criminal Court Building.

The judge listened as a prosecutor laid out the twisted tale—how Lathem allegedly paid for Warren to cross an ocean, asked him to record a murder, and then stabbed Cornell-Duranleau “over and over” with Warren until they broke a knife and nearly decapitated the cosmetologist from Michigan whose final words were, “Wyndham, what are you doing?”

When the prosecutor finished, Bourgeois ordered the two men held behind bars on murder charges, refusing them bail after their extradition from California.

“The heinous acts speak for themselves,” Bourgeois told the courtroom.
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