Homicide Watch Chicago

By RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times

Yasmine Elder | Chicago Police

Ellis, 26, died after he ingested bleach during a fight with Yasmine T. Elder, 24, in a minivan earlier this week, Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph Carlson said in court Thursday. Judge Donald Panarese Jr. ordered Elder held on a $1 million bond.

Early Monday morning, the couple started arguing after Elder picked up Ellis from work in West Englewood, Carlson said.

At one point, Elder, who is 5-foot-3 and 207 pounds, climbed on top Ellis as he was lying in the vehicle’s bucket seats, Carlson said. Ellis stood 5-foot-7 and weighed only 130 pounds.
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By JEFF MAYES
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

There was likely not a fatal shooting in Chicago last week, something that had not happened in Chicago in more than four years.

It has been since at least 2012 since there was a week without a fatal shooting, according to Homicide Watch Chicago records which go back to the start of 2013. The longest stretch without a fatal shooting in that time was four days, which happened in December 2016.

But despite the lull in fatalities, the city is still ahead of 2016 as far as shootings go, though 2016 had recorded more homicides, 111, as compared to this year, which had seen 102 through Sunday.

Two people did die from violence in the city last week, but both were injured before the week started.

• Chicago Police and state child welfare authorities are investigating the death of a 4-month-old Janylah Mack, who died Thursday from injuries suffered in utero when her father allegedly beat her pregnant mother and killed her 3-year-old brother last year. Janylah was pronounced dead at 10:09 a.m. Thursday, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. An autopsy Friday found the baby, who lived in the West Side Humboldt Park neighborhood, died from complications of injuries her mother suffered in an assault while pregnant with her.
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By MITCHELL ARMENTROUT and SAM CHARLES
Chicago Sun-Times

Kamari Belmont | Cook County Sheriff’s Dept.

About 11:12 p.m., Kamari Belmont was released from jail after posting 10 percent of a $100,000 bond, and was picked up by an acquaintance, according to the Cook County sheriff’s office.

At 11:43 p.m., he was riding in a vehicle less than a mile from the jail in the 3300 block of South California when a white SUV pulled alongside and someone inside opened fire, according to Chicago Police.

At 11:57 p.m., after being shot in the back and torso, he tried to run away, but collapsed in the street, authorities said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Belmont and two other men, 23-year-old Terrance Hogans and 21-year-old Khalil Powell, were charged in connection with a pair of robberies that happened within an hour of each other early on May 1, 2015, police said at the time.
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By RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times

Anthony Sanders | Chicago Police

Anthony Sanders, who goes by the street name “Ant,” was arrested Sunday at his home in south suburban Harvey, according to a police report.

Cook County prosecutors did not say in court why it took almost 18 months to apprehend him, but Sanders’ attorney told Judge Donald Panarese Jr. the delay was “curious.”

Sanders and Frazier were selling drugs out of another person’s apartment in the 700 block of West 71st when they started bickering over a set of keys to the unit, Assistant State’s Attorney Ed Murillo said. The Dec. 25, 2015, argument was also over who was going to sell drugs there, Assistant State’s Attorney Ed Murillo said.
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Daryn Beach of Calumet City was killed and a man critically wounded in a Gresham neighborhood shooting early Tuesday on the South Side.

The 24-year-old Beach and a 35-year-old man were sitting in a vehicle at 1:19 a.m. in the 1300 block of West 76th Street, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Two people walked up to the vehicle and one of them pulled out a handgun, firing several shots into the vehicle, according to police.

Beach, of Calumet City, was shot in the head and was taken to Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, where she was pronounced dead at 1:36 a.m., authorities said.

The man suffered three gunshot wounds to the abdomen, one to the chin and one to a hand, police said. He was taken in critical condition to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Darrius Ellis died early Monday and an autopsy showed he had been forced to an ingest caustic bleach in the South Side West Englewood neighborhood.

The death of the 26-year-old Ellis is being investigated as a homicide.

Police were called about 3 a.m. Monday to the 6500 block of South Bishop, where Ellis was found outside, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he died at 3:26 a.m.

An autopsy Tuesday showed the cause of death was “complications of forcible administration of a caustic substance,” according to the medical examiner’s office, which ruled the death a homicide.

Authorities said the caustic substance that killed Ellis was bleach.

No one was in custody as of Wednesday morning.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Lavelle D. Morgan was shot and killed Tuesday afternoon on the block where he lived in the South Side Englewood neighborhood.

Officers responded to a call of shots fired about 12:45 p.m. in the 5500 block of South Wells, and found the 19-year-old Morgan shot twice in the neck, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Morgan, who lived on the same block, was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:12 p.m., according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Police said the victim was 21.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

By JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Andre Miller | Illinois Dept. of Corrections

Andre Miller was found guilty of murder Feb. 2 after a jury trial, according to Cook County court records.

About 1:45 p.m. Sept. 14, 2014, Charles Labon was part of a group standing on a corner in the 4100 block of West 16th Street when Miller approached to buy cannabis from someone in the group, authorities said at the time.

The drug dealer turned around to get the cannabis from his car, and Miller pulled a gun out of his pockets and fired several shots at Labon, authorities said.
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Clarence Hart was shot to death Monday evening in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood on the Southwest Side, ending a stretch of eight days without a fatal shooting in the city.

Hart, 29, was shot in the neck around 6:30 p.m. while sitting in a car in the 6400 block of South Claremont, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Hart, who lived about a block away from where the shooting occurred, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:03 p.m.

No one was in custody for the shooting Monday night as Area Central detectives investigated.

It was likely the first fatal shooting in the city in more than eight days, Chicago’s longest such streak in more than four years, according to Homicide Watch Chicago data.

A man was found dead with gunshot wounds on Saturday in Austin, but that victim was reported missing in early February and it was unclear when the shooting happened. A police source said he was likely shot several days before he was found. Before that, the city’s last fatal shooting happened Feb. 26 in North Lawndale.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Antoine D. Watkins, found shot to death Saturday afternoon in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side, had been missing for more than a month.

His death was the only fatal shooting reported in Chicago in the last eight days.

Officers responded at 12:23 p.m. to a call of a person lying face down in a vacant lot in the 5400 block of West Ohio, Chicago Police said.

Watkins was dead at the scene, according police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Police said he was 32, while the medical examiner’s office said he was 22. He lived about a block away from where he was found.

An autopsy Sunday found Watkins died of multiple gunshot wounds and his death was ruled a homicide, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Area North detectives were conducting a death investigation.

The Saturday fatality broke a streak of six days in a row without a fatal shooting in the city, the longest such streak in over four years.

However, police said they are uncertain of exactly when Watkins was shot. It appeared the body had been in the lot for awhile, according to a police source.

Watkins was last seen Feb. 3 and had been reported missing Feb. 8.

If he was indeed shot more than a week before he was found, then Monday morning will mark eight days since the last fatal shooting was reported.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire