Homicide Watch Chicago

Jorge Vargas was fatally on his own block in Brighton Park on Saturday night, a shooting that also left a woman injured as she stood on a porch nearby.

Officers responding to a call of a person shot about 9:30 p.m. in the 4000 block of South Albany found the 35-year-old Vargas lying in the street, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Vargas, who lived on the same block where he was found dead, had suffered gunshot wounds to the right chest and arm, and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10 p.m., authorities said. An autopsy ruled his death a homicide.

The woman was standing on a porch nearby when she heard gunfire and realized she’d suffered a graze wound to the right thigh, police said. She was treated at the scene.

Police are investigating whether the shooting was gang-related.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

By JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Dequan Hopkins | Chicago Police

Prosecutors claim Jovan Dovantae Hopkins was fatally shot by his brother in the South Side Back of the Yards neighborhood in July.

Dequan Hopkins, 19, is charged with murder while committing another forcible felony, and aggravated discharge of a firearm for the shooting death of his 22-year-old brother, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office and Chicago Police.

About 8:45 p.m. on July 9, the brothers were walking in the 5200 block of South Emerald when Dequan Hopkins opened fire on a stopped SUV, according to prosecutors and police.
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Bond was set at $100,000 Sunday for a 27-year-old man charged with the fatal stabbing of Michael Lomec during a domestic incident early Friday in the Old Town neighborhood.

Geno Rhodes | Chicago Police

Rhodes got into a fight with the 48-year-old Lomec and stabbed him in the back, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Lomec, who lived on the block where the stabbing happened, was pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital at 2:36 a.m., authorities said.
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Two men have been charged after an early Friday gun battle outside an Austin neighborhood liquor store left 20-year-old Adriana Reyes dead on the West Side.

Ronnie Henderson | Chicago Police

Reyes was inside a vehicle with Henderson and Rodriguez when they got into an argument with a group of people in another vehicle in the parking lot of the store near Lake and Cicero, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
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Raul Lagunas was shot to death Sunday morning in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on the West Side.

Lagunas, 28, suffered gunshot wounds to the neck and arm about 6 a.m. in the 1500 block of North Avers, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Lagunas, who lived on the same block where he was shot, was pronounced dead at the scene at 6:13 a.m., according to the medical examiner’s office.

Police could not provide additional details about the shooting Sunday afternoon.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

By JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Geno Rhodes | Chicago Police

Geno Rhodes was charged with first-degree murder, according to Chicago Police.

According to police, Rhodes stabbed a 48-year-old man in the back during a fight about 1:30 a.m. Friday in the 1300 block of North Burling.

The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The Cook County medical examiner’s office had not released his name as of Sunday afternoon.

Rhodes, of the 300 block of West Schiller, was scheduled to appear in bond court Sunday.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

By JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Dequan Hopkins | Chicago Police

Dequan Hopkins, 19, was charged with murder while committing another forcible felony, and aggravated discharge of a firearm for the shooting death of 22-year-old Jovan Hopkins, according to Chicago Police.

About 8:45 p.m. on July 9, Jovan Hopkins was walking in the 5200 block of South Emerald when Dequan Hopkins walked out of a gangway and opened fire, authorities said.
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By BECKY SCHLIKERMAN
Chicago Sun-Times

Tamara Sword with her kids, Jeremiah, 7; Jakiera, 9; Terrell, 8; Joe, 10; and Kierra, 16. | Photo provided by Andrew Holmes

On Saturday, Holmes joined their ranks when his oldest daughter—a mother of five—was shot and killed in Indianapolis, where she’d lived for about eight years.

“It done hit my doorstep,” Holmes said by phone from Indianapolis. “Now, I don’t have to only wear these shoes, but I have to lace them up and tie them up and keep pushing.”

Holmes said his daughter, Tamara Sword, was with friends at an Indianapolis club when it was shut down after an altercation inside. Sword, 32, and her friends went to a nearby gas station, he said, and those who had been fighting in the club ended up there, too.
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A 22-year-old man has been charged with the fatal shooting of Dwayne L. Thomas last week in Greater Grand Crossing on the South Side.

Devonte Watson | Chicago Police

Thomas, 20, was on the front porch of a home when someone walked up and shot him in the neck, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Thomas, who lived on the same block, was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died at 2:09 p.m., authorities said.

Watson, of the 7400 block of South Normal, was arrested shortly after the shooting, police said.

A judge ordered him held on a $1 million bond during a hearing Saturday, according to the Cook County sheriff’s office.

— Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Cory Fisher was killed and a 16-year-old boy wounded in a West Garfield Park neighborhood shooting Friday evening on the West Side.

Fisher, 18, and the boy got into a fight with a third person who pulled out again and opened fire at 6:12 p.m. in the 3800 block of West Lexington, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Fisher, of the 3200 block of West Carroll, was shot in the head, and the boy was shot in the right shoulder, authorities said.

Both were taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where Fisher died at 6:24 p.m., authorities said.

The teen’s condition was stabilized, police said.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire