Homicide Watch Chicago

Robert Cooley and Arthur L. Smith were killed and a third man was wounded in a shooting early Sunday in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side.

Police responded about 1:30 a.m. to the 4200 block of South State, where they found two men, ages 31 and 47, shot in the head, according to Chicago Police.

The younger man, identified as Cooley, was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was was pronounced dead at 4 p.m., police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. An autopsy Monday found he died of a gunshot wound to the head.

The older man, identified as Smith, was taken to Mercy Hospital, where he died at 2:13 a.m., authorities said. An autopsy determined he died of a gunshot wound to the chest.

Both Smith and Cooley lived in the same neighborhood, just blocks from where they were shot. Cooley, a father of two, attended Harlan Academy.

The third man, 49, showed up at Mercy Hospital suffering from a gunshot wound to the right arm, police said. His condition was stabilized.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

A man charged with an April shooting in West Pullman that left Keshawn Slaughter dead and his 11-year-old stepson wounded on the Far South Side has been ordered held without bond.

Leander Townsell | Chicago Police

Leander Townsell, 22, was arrested about 10:50 a.m. Friday in the 2600 block of South California, according to Chicago Police. He was charged with murder, attempted murder and aggravated battery.

On Sunday, Judge Donald Panarese Jr. ordered him held at Cook County Jail without bond, court records show.

About 5:20 p.m. April 10, the 26-year-old Slaughter and his stepson were walking back from the store in the 11600 block of South Bishop. A white vehicle pulled up and someone inside opened fire, police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Keshawn Slaughter | Facebook

The boy suffered a gunshot wound to the shoulder and was also taken to Christ Medical Center, where he was initially listed in serious condition, police said.

Townsell, who lives in the Park Manor neighborhood on the South Side, is due back in court on July 21, court records show.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Trasean Stokes with his son/Family photo

By ELIZABETH CZAPSKI
Homicide Watch Chicago

Trasean Stokes was a loving father to his two children, his mother Kelly Collier said, often taking them to Chuck E. Cheese, the park and the movies, and sometimes even to a pond to catch fish and turtles.

That’s why her son’s death is “really bothering” his daughter, who talks about it all the time. 

“Every day, all day, she’s asking me questions,” Collier said.

Stokes was incarcerated at Big Muddy River Correctional Center in November 2015 for violating probation. On the day he was released from prison, he was killed.

Stokes, 26, was shot to death Oct. 14, 2016, in the West Rogers Park neighborhood on the North Side.

He was outside at 8:55 p.m. in the 6000 block of North Talman when a group of people walked up and fired shots, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
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Last December, 21-year-old Jose Martinez was sitting in a car with two other men in Humboldt Park when someone walked up and started shooting, striking all three of the passengers in the car. Almost six months later, Martinez died Thursday in a rehab center.

Martinez was with two men in a parked vehicle about 10:40 p.m. Dec. 6, 2016 in the 3400 block of West Augusta.

A male suspect walked up and opened fire into the car. Martinez was shot on the right side of his neck and was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was initially listed in critical condition, authorities said.

He was pronounced dead at 11:17 p.m. Thursday at the Warren Barr South Loop rehabilitation center, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He lived in the Irving Park neighborhood.

An autopsy Friday found he died of complications from his gunshot wound, and his death was ruled a homicide, the medical examiner’s office said.

The same shooting also wounded a 31-year-old man and a 40-year-old man.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Two women fatally shot while driving in the Washington Park neighborhood on the South Side Wednesday night have been identified as Juliet Veronica Washington and Jeanine Dowell.

Betweem them, they leave behind five children.

The women were stopped at a light while driving north about 10:30 p.m. in the 5400 block of South Wabash, according to Chicago Police. Someone in another vehicle fired shots,and both women suffered gunshot wounds to the head. Their SUV then rolled onto the sidewalk.

Washington, 41, of west suburban Woodridge, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. She was a mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service in Westmont and the mother of two. She was also known as Juliet Pollard

Dowell, 32, of the Far South Side Roseland neighborhood, also died at the scene. She was the mother of three and was also known as Jeanine Charrell.

Autopsies Thursday showed both women died of multiple gunshot wounds, according to the medical examiner’s office.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

By MATTHEW HENDRICKSON and JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Bond was denied Thursday for a suburban man charged with the fatal shooting of Antone Jackson Monday evening in the South Chicago neighborhood.

Jeremy R. Starks | Chicago Police

About 6:30 p.m. Monday, Starks drove a white Buick Century to 26-year-old Antone Jackson’s home in the 7900 block of South Ridgeland, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

Jackson was walking out of his house when Starks got out of the Buick and got something out of the trunk, according to prosecutors.

Witnesses reported seeing the two men talking and then Jackson raise his hands into the air and yell “don’t do it, don’t do it” before Starks shot him multiple times.
Read more

By JACOB WITICH
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Jeffery Freeman | Cook County Sheriff’s Dept.

Jeffery Freeman, 24, faces one count of first-degree murder for the Oct. 6, 2014, shooting that left the 40-year-old Pickens dead, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

Pickens was drinking and smoking with several people in an alley near the first block of East 44th Street, according to prosecutors. He was sitting with someone else in a car parked at the mouth of the alley.

Several members of Freeman’s gang then pulled up in a tan Buick, approached Freeman and told him to “check” Pickens for being in their territory, prosecutors said.
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Jose Mendoza Jr. was shot to death while walking with his brother Wednesday evening in the Ashburn neighborhood on the Southwest Side.

The 16-year-old was walking east with his brother near the intersection of West 79th Street and South Christiana Avenue when people walking nearby started shooting, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Mendoza was shot in the back and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead at 8:04 p.m., authorities said.

He lived about a block away from the shooting.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

By JEFF MAYES
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Sun-Times file photo by Ashlee Rezin

Federal official announced this week they will be sending another 20 ATF Police officers to Chicago to help slow the wave of gun violence that does not seem to have slowed from last year’s deadly pace.

Another 14 people died last week and the city’s homicide total stood at 330 as of Friday morning. That means Chicago is actually one homicide ahead of last year, when murder total through June 30 was 329.

The city went on to record over 780 murders last year, the most in nearly 20 years, and while the number of shootings is down in 2017, the number of homicides is not.

Whether the extra federal help will show any significant results has yet to be seen, but the city is now entering that time of year which historically shows the highest number of homicides.

In shootings last week:

• A 28-year-old man died two days after he was wounded in a shooting late Friday in the West Side Austin neighborhood. About 11:55 p.m. Friday, officers responding to a call of shots fired in the 5800 block of West Ohio found Ira Johnson lying on the sidewalk with a gunshot wound to the head, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Johnson, who lived in the same neighborhood, was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he died at 10:17 p.m. Sunday.

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A 24-year-old man found shot to death Wednesday afternoon in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on the West Side was identified as Arteco Rhodes.

Officers responded to a call of a person shot at 4:28 p.m. and found Rhodes lying on the ground in the 3200 block of West Haddon, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Rhodes had been shot in the chest and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died at 5:01 p.m., authorities said.

His home address was not known Thursday afternoon.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire