17-year-old Alvin Stoll shot to in alley in Jefferson Park drive-by

Seventeen-year-old Alvin Stoll was shot to death Thursday night in the Jefferson Park neighborhood on the Northwest Side.

About 9 p.m., Stoll was with someone else in an alley in the 5300 block of West Foster. That’s when a shooter in a dark-colored car opened fire, hitting the boy in the abdomen, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

He was taken to Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, where he died at 10:10 p.m., authorities said. He lived in the neighborhood where he was killed.

No one was in custody for the shooting as of Friday morning.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

WEEK IN REVIEW: Three teenage boys among 8 killed in Chicago as 2017 death toll rapidly approaches 60

By JEFF MAYES
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Sun-Times file photo

Sun-Times file photo


Three teenage boys were among 8 people were killed last week as the death toll from homicides in Chicago neared 60 just five weeks into the new year.

The shooting last week brought the homicide total to 57, and it reached 60 with a fatal stabbing on Tuesday night, according to Chicago Sun-Times records. The numbers actually show a slight decrease since 2016, when the 60th homicide was recorded on Feb. 2, six days earlier.

One of the teens, 15-year-old honor student Willie Woodus was shot and killed Friday evening as he walked home from Fenger High School in the Roseland neighborhood on the Far South Side. Just after 5 p.m., the boy was walking in an alley in the 11400 block of South Stewart when a gray Pontiac drove by and someone inside opened fire, hitting him in the head, chest and abdomen, Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. Woodus was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead an hour later, authorities said.

About eight hours later, another 15-year-old boy, Clavonte Eubanks, died after being shot early Saturday in the Jeffery Manor neighborhood on the Far South Side. At 3:27 a.m., the teen was walking through a park in the 2100 block of East 97th Street when he heard gunshots and felt pain in his chest, police said. He ran to a home in the 2200 block of East 97th Street, where someone called an ambulance. Eubanks suffered a gunshot wound to the upper-right chest and was taken by emergency crews to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died less than an hour later. He lived in the same neighborhood where he was shot.
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Reckless homicide charge in death of Karonda Hill-Meyers, pedestrian killed by hit-and-run driver in Lawndale

By JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Jesse Gather | Cook County Sheriff's Dept.

Jesse Gather | Cook County Sheriff’s Dept.


A woman fatally struck by an SUV last week while crossing a street in the West Side Lawndale neighborhood has been identified as a 35-year-old South Side resident Karonda Hill-Meyers.

About 6:30 p.m. Feb. 1, a Chevrolet Trailblazer was southbound in the 1300 block of South Kedzie when it struck the woman, who was walking in a crosswalk, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The driver of the SUV, 48-year-old Jesse Gather, drove off after the crash, but was arrested less than a half-mile away in the 3400 block of West Douglas, police said.

Hill-Meyers was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital and pronounced dead at 7:33 p.m., authorities said. An autopsy Thursday found the Englewood resident died of multiple injuries from being struck by a vehicle, and her death was ruled an accident.

Hill-Meyers, married with a 9-year-old daughter, was walking to the store when she was struck, according to family members. The family has set up a GoFundMe page to help with funeral expenses.

We will miss her sense of humor and her witty laugh. She wasn’t selfish at all. Anyone that encountered her loved her warm and loving personality. She was taken from us too soon,” a family wrote on the GoFundMe page.

Gather was charged with felony counts of reckless homicide and leaving the scene of an accident, and a misdemeanor count of reckless driving, police said.

Gather, of the 700 block of South Kedzie, was ordered on a $300,000 bond Saturday, according to police and the Cook County sheriff’s office. He is next scheduled to appear in court Feb. 22.

Death of Annette Harris, found lying floor of her Avalon Park home three months ago, now ruled a homicide

The death of a 57-year-old Annette Harris in her South Side Avalon Park neighborhood home nearly three months ago has been ruled a homicide.

A family member discovered Harris lying unresponsive in the hallway of her home in the 1100 block of East 81st Street about 9:30 a.m. Nov. 12, 2016, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

She was pronounced dead at the scene at 10:17 a.m., according to the medical examiner’s office.

An autopsy at the time did not rule on cause and manner of death, with results pending further study and investigation. But on Wednesday, the medical examiner’s office said the death was caused by sharp force injury to the neck, and ruled it a homicide.

Area South detectives are conducting a death investigation, police said Thursday morning.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Person of interest in custody after Walter Long Jr., who rapped as dinnerwithjohn, stabbed to death in River West

Police say a person of interest was being questioned after Walter Long Jr., a rapper who performed as dinnerwithjohn, was stabbed to death Wednesday afternoon near Metra tracks in the River West neighborhood.

Walter Long Jr. performed rap as dinnerwithjohn. | Facebook

Walter Long Jr. performed rap as dinnerwithjohn. | Facebook


Long, a founding member of the rap group Pivot Gang, had previously rapped under the name John Walt, according to the rap blog Fake Shore Drive.

The 24-year-old Long got into a fight with someone who pulled out a sharp object about 3:20 p.m. in the 400 block of North Clinton, Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.

Long suffered a laceration to his upper left torso and was pronounced dead at the scene at 3:52 p.m., authorities said. He lived in the West Side Austin neighborhood.

Area Central detectives were questioning a person of interest in the case Wednesday night.

Long last played Jan. 6 at Lincoln Hall on the North Side.

—Homicide Watch Chicago and Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Omar Gunn sentenced to 40 years for chasing down and shooting Jaleel Pearson in 2013 in South Shore

By JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Omar Gunn | Cook County Sheriff's Dept.

Omar Gunn | Cook County Sheriff’s Dept.


A man was sentenced to 40 years in prison Tuesday for chasing down and shooting 18-year-old Jaleel Pearson in the South Shore neighborhood in 2013.

Omar Gunn, 20, was found guilty of murder on Nov. 30, 2016, after a bench trial before Judge Timothy Joseph Joyce, according to Cook County court records.

Gunn and Pearson were rival gang members, according to prosecutors.

About 6:10 p.m. Sept. 13, 2013, Gunn chased Pearson into a store in the 2200 block of East 71st Street and shot him twice in the arm and chest, authorities said at the time.

Jaleel Pearson |

Jaleel Pearson |


Pearson died at Stroger Hospital less than an hour later, authorities said.

Judge Joyce sentenced Gunn to 40 years in prison Tuesday, according to court records. He will receive credit for 1,210 days served in the Cook County Jail, and will have to serve three years of supervised release.

A second man charged with Pearson’s murder, 22-year-old Anthony Wells, was found not guilty last year.

Alleged gang member ‘D.Rose’ gets 40 years for fatal shooting of 14-year-old Venzel Richardson in 2014

By LUKE WILUSZ and JEFF MAYES
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Ahbir 'D.Rose' Sardin | Cook County Sheriff's Dept.

Ahbir ‘D.Rose’ Sardin | Cook County Sheriff’s Dept.


A South Side man whose street name appeared in the lyrics of several Chicago rappers was sentenced to 40 years in prison Tuesday after being found guilty last year of the 2014 fatal shooting of 14-year-old Venzel Richardson in Woodlawn.

Ahbir Sardin, known as “D.Rose,” was part of a crew of rappers including Lil Reese, Lil Durk and Chief Keef, known for their lyrical and social media feud with rapper Lil JoJo, who was murdered in 2012.

He was at one point accused, and then cleared of that murder.

But a Cook County jury convicted the 20-year-old of first-degree murder on Sept. 15, 2016, for the shooting death of Venzel Richardson, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

On Tuesday, the alleged gang member was sentenced to 40 years, according to court records.
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$50K bond for man charged with punching Marques Gaines, who fell unconscious in street and was fatally hit by cab

By ASHLEE REZIN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Marcus Dante Moore | Hennepin County Sheriff's Dept.

Marcus Dante Moore | Hennepin County Sheriff’s Dept.


Bond was set at $50,000 Friday for a man arrested in Minneapolis last week and charged in connection with the February 2016 death of bartender Marques Gaines, who was punched, then struck by a cab as he was lay unconscious in the street at a busy River North intersection.

Marcus Dante Moore, 32, was arrested about 9:40 a.m. Jan. 30 on a felony warrant out of Cook County charging assault with a deadly weapon in the death of the 32-year-old Gaines, according to Minneapolis police.

On Feb. 1, Moore appeared in court in Hennepin County and waived extradition, according to Chuck Laszewski, spokesman for the Hennepin County attorney’s office.

On Friday, Moore appeared in Cook County court, and was formally charged with aggravated battery in a public place, according to court records. Bond was set at $50,000 and his next court date was scheduled for Wednesday. Prosecutors did not say whether more charges would be filed.

His last known address was the Pacific Garden Mission, a homeless shelter in the South Loop.
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Grayson Langdon, murdered in South Shore in 2015, named suspect in 2013 murder at Lil Wayne concert in Charlotte

Grayson Langdon, who was shot to death in the South Shore neighborhood last fall, was responsible for a fatal stabbing outside a Lil Wayne concert in Charlotte, N.C., in 2013, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police.

Grayson Langdon | gunmemorial.org

Grayson Langdon | gunmemorial.org


At a press press conference Friday, police said Langdon killed James Price as he was leaving a concert in 2013 at the former Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, WBTV in Charlotte is reporting.

A verbal altercation led to a fight in the parking lot, the 25-year-old Price was trying to protect his girlfriend when he was stabbed, according to police.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police say Langdon was a suspect in the case for some time, but there was never enough evidence until recently.
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Geovani Mexicano of Hometown killed, woman wounded in shooting during argument in Garfield Ridge

Geovani Mexicano was killed and a woman wounded in a shooting Sunday night in the Garfield Ridge neighborhood on the Southwest Side.

The two were standing outside a parked vehicle about 9:30 p.m. in the 4700 block of South Leamington when a black Dodge Ram pulled up to them, Chicago Police said. People inside the truck began arguing with the man and woman, and someone inside the truck fired shots.

Mexicano, 27, was shot in the chest and was pronounced dead at the scene at 10:08 p.m., according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He lived in southwest suburban Hometown.

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

The woman, 29, was shot in the back near her shoulder, and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where her condition was stabilized.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire