Homicide Watch Chicago

Tyrone Blake was killed and a woman critically wounded when several people entered a hone early Saturday in the Englewood neighborhood and started shooting, according to Chicago Police.

About 3:30 a.m., five or six people went into the house in the 6000 block of South Carpenter and opened fire, hitting both victims multiple times, police said.

Blake, 25, was pronounced dead at the scene at 3:48 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He lived in the 6100 block of South Indiana.

The 26-year-old woman was taken in critical condition to Stroger Hospital, police said.

No one was in custody as of Sunday morning.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Devonta Spraggins was killed in a shooting Friday night while driving just a block from his home in the Marquette Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side.

The 20-year-old Spraggins was driving east on 72nd Street about 9:50 p.m., according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

As the vehicle crossed Washtenaw Avenue, someone in a westbound Ford Explorer fired shots as they crossed paths, police said.

Spraggins, who lived just a block away in the 7200 block of South Talman, was shot in the chest, and taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, authorities said. He was pronounced dead at 10:22 p.m.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

A man who died three days after being shot early Sunday on the North Side has been identified as Umair Ullah.

Officers responded about 1:40 a.m. Jan. 8 to a call of a person shot in an alley in the 5600 block of North Western, according to Chicago Police. They found the 21-year-old lying in the alley with an apparent gunshot wound to the head, according to Chicago Police.

Ullah was taken in critical condition to Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston, where he was pronounced dead at 11:45 a.m. Wednesday, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He lived in the 1700 block of West Highland Avenue.

An autopsy Friday showed he died of a gunshot wound to the face, and his death was ruled a homicide.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

By SAM CHARLES and MITCHELL ARMENTROUT
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

David Gonzalez was killed and four other men were wounded in a shooting in the Brighton Park neighborhood Wednesday evening that the local alderman called an “ambush” carried out with an assault rifle.

It was the second area shooting in recent weeks to be carried out with an assault rifle.

About 6 p.m., a group of gang members drove to the 4200 block of South Talman and “ambushed” another group of men before opening fire, according to Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th).

An assault-style weapon was likely used and almost 30 shell casings were found at the crime scene, he said.

The five who were struck tried to drive away, but only made it to the parking lot of a vacant business at the southwest corner of Archer and Western, according to Lopez and Chicago Police.
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By JEFF MAYES
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

At least eight people were killed in Chicago violence last week, including two brothers and a pair of teenage boys, all of whom died after a pair of shootings on the West Side.

The boys were killed in a drive-by shooting that also left a 65-year-old woman was wounded Tuesday afternoon in the East Garfield Park neighborhood.

Sixteen-year-old Malik McNeese and a 17-year-old Stevie Jefferson were on a sidewalk about noon in the 3400 block of West Fulton when a black SUV pulled up. Someone in the vehicle opened fire, hitting the younger boy in the head, back and arm; and the older boy in the head, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

McNeese was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead; while Jefferson died after being taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, authorities said.

A stray bullet went through the front door of a home on the block, hitting the 65-year-old woman in the leg. She was taken to Mount Sinai in good condition, police said.

• About 12 hours later, the brothers were fatally shot in the Homan Square neighborhood Tuesday night. Officers responding at 11:13 p.m. to a call of shots fired in the 3200 block of West Lexington found the pair lying in the street, police said.
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By MATTHEW HENDRICKSON
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

A Humboldt Park man has been charged with fatally shooting Sergio Zaragoza last year in the Hermosa neighborhood on the Northwest Side.

Tony T. Browley, 40, was charged with first-degree murder for fatally shooting the 28-year-old Zaragoza, according to Chicago Police.

Just after 3 p.m. Sept. 11, 2016, Zaragoza got into an argument with a woman in the 1600 block of North Karlov and the argument turned physical, police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.

During the fight, Browley walked up, pulled out a gun and shot Zaragoza in the chest, authorities said. Zaragoza, who lived a block north of the shooting, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died at 3:47 p.m.

Browley, of the 1000 block of North Kedzie, was ordered held without bond on Thursday. His next court date is scheduled for Jan. 30.

A man killed in a shooting that left another man wounded Monday morning in the West Garfield Park neighborhood has been identified as Brandon H. Jones.

Three men were in a vehicle heading east in the 4500 block of West Lexington at 9:47 a.m., according to Chicago Police. A black SUV pulled up alongside and the driver started shooting.

The 21-year-old Jones, who was a backseat passenger; and a 23-year-old front seat passenger were both shot in the head, authorities said. The driver, 26, was not injured, and drove the victims to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park.

Jones was pronounced dead at West Suburban at 10:07 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He lived in the 1100 block of North Latrobe.

The older man’s condition was stabilized and he was transferred to Stroger Hospital, police said.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

By MITCH DUDEK
Chicago Sun-Times

The murder cases are eerily similar. In 1989 Douglas Askew killed his pregnant girlfriend. He shot her in the forehead and the back of her head outside of her Robbins home. He also shot her sister in the face and her stepdad in the back. Both survived.

He was sentenced in to 40 years in prison for fatally shooting the 15-year-old girl in 1989.

On Tuesday, Askew, 44, appeared in bond court, again accused of murdering his girlfriend—Sylvia Brice—this time with a large kitchen knife.

Brice, 52, had recently received an order of protection to keep Askew away from her.

But Askew was inside her home in the 9300 block of South Wentworth Avenue when Brice arrived there about 2 p.m. on Dec. 31—accompanied by her 30-year-old niece—to collect some belongings for an upcoming move, Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Brian Grisman said in court Tuesday.
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Deontae T. Nichols was found with fatal gunshot wounds Monday evening in the Hermosa neighborhood on the Northwest Side.

Police responded to a call of a person shot at 7:44 p.m. and found the 26-year-old lying in the 1600 block of North Keystone. He was unresponsive and appeared to have suffered gunshot wounds to his body and head, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Nichols was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 8:20 p.m., authorities said. He lived in the 4300 block of West Cortez.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Chicago Tech Academy High School employee Jason E. Goodfriend was found shot to death in a vehicle Saturday morning in the University Village neighborhood on the Near West Side.

The 31-year-old, known as “Jay,” was found when officers responded to a report of a man slumped over inside a running vehicle about 9:50 a.m. in the 1300 block of West Hastings, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Goodfriend, of the 1300 block of North Maplewood, had suffered a gunshot wound to the head, and was pronounced dead at the scene at 10:07 a.m., authorities said.

An autopsy Sunday found he died of that gunshot wound and his death was ruled a homicide.

The crime scene was just a block away from the Chicago Tech Academy campus.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family with expenses.

“Jay has touched the lives of many people, and will forever be remembered as a geniune, honest and sincere gentleman,” the GoFundMe page stated. “He has made memorable impressions to not only those who have known him forever, but those who he had only briefly spoken to. Another innocent soul is taken way too soon.”

A graduate of Wheaton Warrenville South High School, Goodfriend was a UIC graduate who worked as business and finance manager at Chicago Tech Academy.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire