A young mother killed in a Saturday night shooting in the West Side Austin neighborhood that left three other people wounded has been identified as 21-year-old Tenisha Mallett.
Tenisha Mallet | family photo
The four were outside about 8:30 p.m. in the 100 block of North Mayfield when a dark
SUV approached, Chicago Police said. Two people got out of the
SUV and began shooting in the direction of the group.
Mallett was shot in the neck and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. She lived in Austin.
Family members said Mallett, who leaves behind a 3-year-old daughter, had experienced gun violence in the past.
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A man found shot to death Sunday afternoon in the South Side Auburn Gresham neighborhood has been identified as 25-year-old Ryan Ellis.
Ellis was found with multiple gunshot wounds to the body in the 1400 block of West 84th Street at 1:55 p.m., according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
He was pronounced dead at the scene at 2:30 p.m., authorities said. He lived in the South Chicago neighborhood.
—Chicago Sun-Times Wire
A man found shot to death Saturday morning in an Austin neighborhood alley on the West Side has been identified as 33-year-old Taurins Pope.
Officers responding to a shooting at 6:53 a.m. in the 100 block of North Menard found him unresponsive with a gunshot wound to the head, police said.
Pope was pronounced dead at the scene at 7:05 a.m., according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He lived in the Austin neighborhood.
—Chicago Sun-Times Wire
By ELIZABETH CZAPSKI
Homicide Watch Chicago
On a summer day during their sophomore year of high school, Kayla Taylor and her boyfriend, Stevie Jefferson, sat down to talk about their future.
Stevie Jefferson / Family photo
They envisioned a life together in Virginia after graduation, where they wanted to go to college, get good jobs, get married and have kids.
Jefferson and Taylor met during their freshman year at After School Matters, where they “wrote poetry, performed for young kids and went on college field trips,” Taylor said. Their favorite places to go together were Millennium Park and the beach.
A senior at Ombudsman High School, the 17-year-old Jefferson was scheduled to graduate in June, his mother, Latina Sanders Stuckey, said.
He would never get the chance.
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By JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire
Ladarren Ball | Cook County Sheriff’s Dept.
A man has been sentenced to 39 years in prison for the fatal shooting of
Zika Urosevic in the West Side Humboldt Park neighborhood in 2015.
Ladarren M. Ball, 32, was found guilty of murder Dec. 20, 2016, after a bench trial before Judge Vincent Gaughan, according to Cook County court records.
About 6 p.m. Sept. 19, 2015, Urosevic was standing with a group of people in the 1200 block of North Keeler when Ball walked up and started shooting, authorities said at the time.
Urosevic, 38, was shot in the back of the neck and died at the scene, authorities said. He lived in the Humboldt Park neighborhood.
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Keenan Turner was shot to death on an Austin neighborhood porch early Saturday on the West Side.
Authorities investigate after a fatal shooting on an Austin porch early Saturday. | Network Video Productions
The 29-year-old was sitting in front of a home about 2:30 a.m. on the block where he lived in the 300 block of North Lorel. Someone then walked up and shot him repeatedly across the body, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Turner was taken to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, where he was pronounced dead at 2:43 a.m., authorities said.
—Chicago Sun-Times Wire
Authorities investigate after a fatal shooting on an Austin porch early Saturday. | Network Video Productions
A man whose attorney said he was mentally unstable has been charged with the fatal beating of his brohter, 53-year-old man Jerry Lee Cummings, last fall in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side.
Robert Cummings | Chicago Police
, 47, of the 7600 block of South Marquette, faces one count of first-degree murder, and was ordered held on a $1 million bond Saturday, according to court records and Chicago Police.
About 1:10 p.m. Sept. 8, Jerry Lee Cummings was found unresponsive with injuries to his face and groin inside a vehicle in the 200 block of North Lockwood, authorities said at the time. He was pronounced dead at the scene about 20 minutes later.
Court records indicate Robert Cummings had lived with his brother, but had been asked to leave about a week earlier. However, he returned to the home and Jerry Lee Cummings agreed to let him sleep in his car.
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By RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times
Kevin Alexander | Chicago Police
Prosecutors claim well-known Chicago rapper
Walter Long Jr., who was stabbed to death in the Fulton Market District earlier this week, knew his assailant and had a previous run-in with the suspect’s friend.
Long–who performed most recently as “dinnerwithjohn”–had gotten into a prior altercation with Kevin Alexander’s friend and the friend’s cousin, Assistant State’s Attorney Jamie Santini said in court Friday.
Alexander was on the CTA Green Line train with a friend heading westbound when Long got on the train at the Clark and Lake stop late Wednesday afternoon, Santini said.
At some point, Alexander approached Long and soon, the two began wrestling on the train, Santini said.
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By LUKE WILUSZ
Chicago Sun-Times Wire
An autopsy found that 2-month-old Aliya Acosta, who died Thursday after spending the last three weeks in a hospital, was a child abuse victim and her death has been ruled a homicide.
Family members took Aliya to Saints Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center about 4 p.m. Jan. 17 after she became unresponsive in her home in the West Side Humboldt Park neighborhood, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Aliya was later transferred to Lurie Children’s Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 2:04 a.m. Thursday, authorities said. An autopsy Friday found she died from multiple injuries caused by child abuse, and ruled her death a homicide.
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is investigating allegations of abuse against the infant’s mother, father and other caregivers, department spokeswoman Veronica Resa said. DCFS has not had prior contact with the family.
Area North detectives are also conducting a death investigation, police said.
A man and woman who may have been shot during a Super Bowl party Sunday night in the Brighton Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side have been identified as Priscilla A. Gloria Reyes and Edwin Eliseco Chuy Cutzal.
Officers responded to a call of a person shot at 7:36 a.m. inside a home in the 2500 block of West 46th Street, according to Chicago Police.
Reyes, 33, was found shot in the chest and was pronounced dead at the scene at 7:45 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. She lived in the home where the shooting occurred.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family with funeral expenses.
Cutzal, 31, was shot multiple times and was also pronounced dead at the scene at 7:45 a.m., authorities said. He lived several blocks away in Broghton Park.
Both of their deaths were ruled homicides, according to the medical examiner’s office.
Authorities were not certain exactly when the pair were shot, but it may have been during a Super Bowl the previous evening, a source said.
—Chicago Sun-Times Wire
