Homicide Watch Chicago

Chase Taylor was shot to death inside his Gresham neighborhood home sometime Thursday on the South Side.

Another person who lives in the home in the 8000 block of South Bishop left aboutt 6:30 a.m. and returned about 10 p.m. That person found the 28-year-old Taylor dead with a gunshot wound to the head in the living room, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

He was pronounced dead at the scene at 10:13 p.m., authorities said.

Area South detectives are conducting a homicide investigation.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Marvin Johnson was shot to death Thursday morning outside his home in the South Side Englewood neighborhood.

Johnson, 37, walked outside his home in the 7000 block of South Carpenter at 9:11 a.m. and was approached by two suspects, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The suspects shot Johnson multiple times before running away, police said.

Johnson was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead at 10:01 a.m., authorities said.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

By JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times

Erick Sanders | Illinois Dept. of Corrections

Erick Sanders, 21, was found guilty of murder Dec. 13 after a bench trial before Judge Carol Howard, according to Cook County court records.

Sanders and his roommate, the 22-year-old Fort, had argued about his not paying enough for rent and groceries, and her use of Sanders’ LINK card, authorities said at the time.

About 10:45 p.m. June 6, 2014, Sanders went to their apartment in the 100 block of North Keeler and asked to use Fort’s phone to call a cab, authorities said. He left, but returned a few minutes later and went to the bathroom, before going into Fort’s bedroom and shooting her.

A witness heard a pop and saw Sanders run out, authorities said.

Fort was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she was pronounced dead less than an hour later, authorities said.
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By STEFANO ESPOSITO
Chicago Sun-Times

Lowell Houser | Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office

And after Officer Lowell Houser shot and killed Nieves Jan. 2, he told a 911 dispatcher that: “A gentleman tried to attack me. I had to shoot him,” according to Assistant State’s Attorney Lynn McCarthy.

McCarthy asked that Houser, 57, be held without bond, but Cook County Judge Donald Panarese Jr. allowed the veteran cop to be released on his own recognizance.

Houser will be placed on electronic monitoring while he awaits trial.

As Houser stood in court, wearing a black-and-white flannel shirt with his hands behind his back, McCarthy described how the officer and Nieves had past altercations.

“Nieves and the defendant knew each other from prior interactions,” McCarthy said.
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By JEFF MAYES
Homicide Watch Chicago

Sun-Times file photo

At least 14 people died from violence in Chicago last week, including a young mother who died from injuries suffered in a shooting last summer near her West Side home that left her paralyzed for the last seven months of her life.

Precious Land, 27, was shot about 8 p.m. May 28 as she drove home in the 3900 block of West Lexington in the Lawndale neighborhood, Chicago Police said at the time.

Land, who lived a block from where she was shot, died at 9:24 p.m. Friday at Mount Sinai Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

On the night she was killed, the start of Memorial Day weekend, Land had just dropped off her four children at a friend’s home, family members said on Facebook. Just one block west of Land’s home, she suffered a gunshot wound to the neck and was initially taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition.

Land, a mother of four, was left in a coma and paralyzed, family and friends said on Facebook. She eventually came out of the coma and was taken home from the hospital, but remained paralyzed until she passed away.

• The week’s final homicide was a man fatally shot Sunday morning in the East Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side. At 5:30 a.m., officers responding to a call of a person down found 26-year-old Timothy Wade unresponsive on the sidewalk in the 2600 block of West Van Buren, according to police. Wade, who lived on the same block, was shot in the head and was pronounced dead at the scene.

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Sylvester “Sly” Gardner was killed and two other people were wounded in a shooting Tuesday night inside a Subway restaurant in the South Side Chatham neighborhood.

Authorities investigate after a triple shooting at a Chatham Subway restaurant on Tuesday night. | Network Video Productions

Gardner, 28, was shot multiple times was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He lived in the 7900 block of South Wabash.

Another man, 21, was shot in the arm and leg, and was taken in critical condition to Stroger Hospital. A 17-year-old girl was shot in the head and back, police said. Her condition was stabilized.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

By SAM CHARLES
Chicago Sun-Times

Lowell Houser | Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office

Lowell Houser, 57, was charged with murder on Wednesday.

Houser, an officer assigned to the mass transit unit, fatally shot Nieves, who was unarmed, while off duty on the morning of Jan. 2 in the 2500 block of North Lowell, Chicago Police said.

Police have released few details about what led to the shooting, other than to say at the time an “altercation” between the men escalated, and the officer shot him several times. Nieves was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he died later that morning, authorities said.

Houser was arrested by Chicago Police on Wednesday and is scheduled to appear in bond court Thursday at noon.

Houser joined the department about 28 years ago. His disciplinary history includes five-day suspensions for an off-duty domestic altercation in 2001 and a medical-roll violation in 2006.
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Robert Jones died about 12 hours after he was shot Tuesday night in the South Side Hyde Park neighborhood.

The 25-year-old Jones was talking to three other people on a sidewalk about 9 p.m. in the 5100 block of South Blackstone, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

At some point, one of the others pulled a gun and shot him multiple times in the head and shoulders, according to police.

Jones was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he died at 9:45 a.m. Wednesday, according to the medical examiner’s office. His home address was not immediately known.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Juwan Kemp was shot to death late Tuesday while driving in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side.

The 26-year-old Kemp was driving north at 11:27 p.m. in the 100 block of North Central, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Someone in a black SUV opened fire, striking him several times.

Kemp was shot in the head and body, and was pronounced dead at the scene at 11:42 p.m., authorities said.

He lived in the 10500 block of South Peoria in the Far South Side Washington Heights neighborhood.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

A northwest suburban man who was killed in a shooting that left another man wounded Saturday morning in the Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side has been identified as Everick Lamont Dukes.

At 8:05 a.m., the men were standing in the street in the 1100 block of South Francisco when someone got out of a black car and fired multiple shots, according to Chicago Police. The shooter then got back into the vehicle and drove north on Francisco.

Dukes, 27, was shot in the head and chest, and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 8:34 a.m., according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. The father of two lived in the 300 block of Watch Court in Elgin.

A 39-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to the back, and was also taken to Mount Sinai, where he was listed in good condition, police said.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire