Homicide Watch Chicago

Crispin Coliz Jr. of southwest suburban Cherry Hill was shot to death Friday night in the Belmont Heights neighborhood on the Northwest Side.

Just after 10 p.m., the 28-year-old Coliz got into an argument with two men inside a convenience store, Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.

When Coliz got into a vehicle and started driving away, the two others followed in a light-colored SUV. They pulled alongside Coliz’ vehicle in the 7200 block of West Grace and opened fire, hitting him in the side of the head, police said.

Coliz, who lived in the 4800 block of Rotary Road in Cherry Hill, was taken to Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, where he was pronounced dead at 10:39 p.m., authorities said.

Area North detectives were conducting a homicide investigation.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Willa Wickerson | Chicago Police

Willa Wickerson was charged late Thursday with first degree murder, according to Chicago Police.

About 2 p.m. on Dec. 7, officers were called to assist paramedics treating the infant, who was unresponsive inside his home in the 6600 block of South Racine, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Timothy was taken to St. Bernard Hospital, where he died at 2:39 p.m., authorities said.

Timothy Harmon | Facebook

Police said the baby’s mother was not home at the time, and the 911 call was made by a babysitter.

Wickerson was taken into custody about 9:25 a.m. Wednesday at her home in the 6700 block of South Parnell Avenue, police said.

The state Department of Children and Family Services — which said it had no prior contact with the family — was also investigating, a spokeswoman said.

Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil ordered Wickerson jailed on a $1 million bond, court records show. Her next court date is Jan. 4.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Lavaris “Goose” Johnson was shot to death early Friday in the Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side, just hours after he was reportedly wounded in another shooting less than a mile away.

Officers investigate after a fatal Lawndale shooting early Friday. | Network Video Productions

Johnson was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:28 a.m., authorities said. He lived in the 4100 block of South Berkeley.

About three hours earlier, a 30-year-old man was shot in the 1800 block of South Pulaski. About 10:05 p.m., he was driving when someone in a light colored car pulled up and opened fire, according to police. The victim was shot in the left arm and drove himself to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was treated and released.
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By MITCHELL ARMENTROUT
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Devontay Murray | Cook County Sheriff’s Dept.

Devontay Murray, 19, faces counts of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder for the July 25 attack near his home in the 6600 block of South Michigan, according to Chicago Police.

About 4:30 p.m., the 43-year-old Davis was sitting in a vehicle with a 22-year-old woman when someone opened fire, hitting Davis multiple times and the woman in the chest, authorities said at the time.
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By JORDAN OWEN
Chicago SUn-Times Wire

Eric Hamilton | Cook County Sheriff’s Dept.

Eric Hamilton, 48, was found guilty of murder on Sept. 14 after a two-day bench trial before Judge Kevin Sheehan, according to Cook County court records.

On Dec. 8, 2014, Hamilton and his fiance had just returned to their home in the 6100 block of South Wabash Avenue when her brother, the 25-year-old Johnson, asked to use her bus card and an argument began, prosecutors said at Hamilton’s bond hearing.

Hamilton thought Johnson disrespected his fiance and got involved in the dispute, prosecutors said. He eventually called 911, but when responding officers learned the dispute was not physical, they “left after taking some information.”

After police left, Hamilton and Johnson continued to argue, and Hamilton’s fiance told the pair to go outside, where the argument escalated into a fight, prosecutors said. Johnson eventually got into his vehicle and drove around the block, but Hamilton followed in a second vehicle.
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By ANDY GRIMM
Chicago Sun-Times

Cook COUnty Commissioner Richard Boykin | Sun-Times file photo

The wide-ranging report, released Wednesday after 10 months of research and public hearings, offers a variety of policy suggestions and suggested tactics to reduce violence in the county, from endorsing “hot spot” patrols to increased funding for employment to anti-violence programs — but it was not clear how many of the recommendations would take hold.

“We have a blueprint. We have to implement it,” Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin said after the board of commissioners formally entered the report into the record. The meeting had begun with a resolution honoring Javon Wilson, grandson of U.S. Rep. Danny Davis. Wilson, a 17-year-old honor student, was gunned down in November at his home in Englewood, one of more than 740 homicides in Chicago so far this year.

The report endorses “hot spot” police measures — sending officers to areas with surging crime — and called for more community-oriented policing, familiar themes of contemporary crime-fighting.
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Antonian T. Mixon, Georgia resident, was shot to death Wednesday night in the West Chatham neighborhood on the South Side.

A man from Georgia was shot to death Wednesday night in the West Chatham neighborhood. | Network Video Productions

The suspect then fired shots, striking Mixon in the head, before getting into a silver vehicle and leaving the scene, authorities said.

Mixon, who lived in the 4200 block of Miners Creek Road in Lithonia, Georgia, was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

By JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Terrence Ghani | Chicago Police

Terrence Ghani, 23, was found guilty of second-degree murder on Nov. 14, according to Cook County court records.

Ghani fatally shot the 21-year-old Curtis about 4:30 p.m. Nov. 6, 2013, in the 8700 block of South Loomis Street, authorities said.

Curtis, of the 8600 block of South Marshfield Avenue, was shot in the abdomen, arm and neck; and died about an hour later at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, authorities said.

Curtis’ grandmother, Lucille Murdock, said at the time that her son was coming to help her when gunfire erupted outside her home. She looked out the window and saw her grandson on the ground.
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By JEFF MAYES
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

At least 9 people died from violence last week, including a 1-month-old baby whose death in Englewood was ruled a homicide by child abuse, as Chicago’s 2016 murder total neared 750.

As of Wednesday morning, there have been at least 741 homicides in Chicago this year, according to Chicago Sun-Times Wire statistics. If you add in 11 people who died in 2016 after being shot or assaulted in prior years, the number is 752 with three weeks left in the year.

One of those was the death of a 1-month-old boy Wednesday afternoon in Englewood. About 2 p.m. Dec. 7, officers responded to assist paramedics treating an unresponsive infant inside his home in the 6600 block of South Racine, according to Chicago Police. Timothy Harmon was taken to St. Bernard Hospital, where he died minutes later, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

An autopsy Thursday found Timothy died of multiple injuries caused by child abuse, according to the medical examiner’s office. Area South detectives are investigating, along with the Department of Children and Family Services. Police said the baby’s mother was not home at the time, and the 911 call was made by a babysitter.

• Last week’s final homicide was south suburban man fatally shot Sunday afternoon in the Riverdale neighborhood on the Far South Side. Anthony “Mook G” Barr, 45, was sitting in the driver’s seat of a parked blue SUV at 12:04 p.m. in the 300 block of East 136th Street when he was approached by two male suspects, who opened fire before running away, police and the medical examiner’s office said. Barr, who lived in Harvey, was shot in the head and was pronounced dead at the scene.

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A 21-year-old man has been charged with the murder of Anthony Shorter, who was wounded in a shooting on Thanksgiving Day a few blocks from his home in the West Side Austin neighborhood, and died about two weeks later.

Tyrie Malik Williams was arrested last week and charged with murder and aggravated battery with discharge of a firearm, according to Chicago Police.

Shorter, 32, was walking with a 35-year-old man and Williams about 11:45 p.m. Nov. 24 in the 1600 block of North Latrobe, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s offices.

An argument started and Williams pulled out a handgun and fired shots, according to police.

Shorter was shot in the chest, abdomen and leg; and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he died at 2:22 a.m. Monday, Dec. 12, according to the medical examiner’s office. He lived just a few blocks away.

The older man was shot in the leg and was taken to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, where his condition was stabilized.

Williams appeared in court Thursday and was ordered held without bond, according to the Cook County SHeriff’s Dept. He will next appear in court on March 15.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire