Homicide Watch Chicago

Police have released surveillance footage of a black pickup that was used to ram another pickup, killing driver Eduardo A. Pena earlier this month in the Southwest Side Gage Park neighborhood.

Chicago Police said the black truck appeared to be a newer model, black Ford F250 or F350 pickup with black wheels and possibly a diesel engine, police said. The truck also has a large toolbox with a silver handle inside its bed.

Police released partial video of the initial crash, hoping someone will recognize the black pickup and provide information to investigators. Anyone with information was asked to contact detectives at (312) 747-8380.

Detectives need your help in Sunday's vehicular homicide. If you recognize this truck, send info anonymously to https://t.co/xNrADd0hmE. pic.twitter.com/5fGWAxbW8d

— Chicago Police (@Chicago_Police) October 28, 2017

About 2:15 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 22, the 21-year-old Pena was driving a red 1998 Ford Ranger pickup in the 5500 block of South Kedzie when the driver of a black pickup intentionally used his vehicle to ram Pena from behind, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Pena’s vehicle was pushed to the 5700 block of South Kedzie, where he lost control and crashed into a tree, authorities said. Pena, a Gage Park neighborhood resident, had to be extricated from the Ranger and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he died at 4:44 a.m. His death was ruled a homicide.

The driver of the black truck drove away south from the scene, police said. He was last seen heading south on Kedzie at 63rd Street.

Pena was married with an infant child. A GoFundMe page set up to help the family with funeral expenses had raised over half of its $7,000 goal in just seven days.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Johnson “John John” Liggins Jr. was shot to death last week in the South Shore neighborhood on Far South Side.

About 2:35 p.m. Monday, October 23, the 17-year-old was standing outside at the intersection of 80th and Coles, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Two people walked up to him and at least one of the starting shooting, police said.

Liggins was struck multiple times and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:25 p.m., authorities said.

An autopsy showed he died of gunshot wounds to the head and chest, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Liggins, who had attended Mount Carmel and Julian high schools, lived several blocks away in the same neighborhood.

Visitation will be 4-9 p.m. Friday at the Gatling’s Funeral Home at 10133 S. Halsted. Wake and funeral services will begin at 10 a.m Saturday at St. John AME Church at 9256 S. Lafayette, followed by interment at Mount Hope Cemetery.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire and Homicide Watch Chicago

A 23-year-old man is charged with reckless homicide in connection with a head-on crash in 2014 that killed 63-year-old Bessie English in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on the West Side.

Bessie English | Facebook

Adrian Segura, of the Ukrainian Village neighborhood, was charged with failure to report an accident or death and reckless homicide with a motor vehicle in connection with the Dec. 7, 2014 crash, according to Chicago Police.

English, 63, was driving a 1993 Ford Escort west in the 2700 block of West Division about 7:50 a.m. when a tan 2010 Honda CRV crashed head-on into her, police said at the time.
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By JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Alfredo Hernandez survived for nearly two years. But the 53-year-old died Tuesday of injuries suffered when he was wounded in 2015 in a shooting at a South Deering neighborhood bar on the Far South Side.

At 11:19 p.m. on Dec. 17, 2015, Hernandez and a 47-year-old man were at Frank’s Tap & Grill in the 9600 block of South Commercial, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

A man with a gun came into the bar and fired multiple shots, police said.

Hernandez was shot in the abdomen, underarm and back; and the 47-year-old man was shot in the right side of the abdomen, police said.

Hernandez was taken in serious condition to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn after the shooting, and the other victim was taken to Trinity Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Hernandez, a South Chicago neighborhood resident, died at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to the medical examiner’s office. An autopsy Thursday found he died of delayed complications from the gunshot wound to the torso, and his death was ruled a homicide.

No arrests had been made as of Saturday morning, according to police.

Jose Saraseume was shot to death Thursday morning on the block where he lived in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood on the Northwest Side.

About 10:25 a.m., the 46-year-old Saraseume was standing outside in the 2500 block of North Lockwood, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Someone in a black hoodie walked up to him and fired two shots, police said.

Saraseume was shot in the head and was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he was pronounced dead at 11:09 a.m., authorities said.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

At least 10 people were killed in Chicago during the week of Oct. 16-22, including eight by gunfire, one by stabbing, and another by vehicular homicide.

Elizabeth Kennedy | Facebook

A man has been charged with murder a domestic-related stabbing incident that left a woman dead and two men wounded Saturday night in the Marquette Park neighborhood. Elizabeth Kennedy, 36, was stabbed in the chest at 5:42 p.m. in the 3300 block of West Marquette, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Prosecutors claim Eddie Crowder fatally stabbed his ex-girlfriend in front of her 13-year-old daughter; wounded a second man, and slashed the teen’s 75-year-old grandfather during a family argument that exploded into violence in Marquette Park. Kennedy was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where she was pronounced dead at 7:40 p.m., authorities said. The two other men sufered non-life-threatening injuries.

Kennedy lived on the same block, a generally quiet area on the Southwest Side. Crowder was ordered held without bond.

In other homicides last week:

• A man was found dead Sunday evening with gunshot wounds to his head and back in the West Side Austin neighborhood, and another man has been charged with his murder. Lonnell Holmes, 24, was found about 8:34 p.m. in the 1000 block of North Lavergne, police said. He was unresponsive and had multiple gunshot wounds to the head and back. Terrance Johnson, 40, was ordered held without bond for shooting Holmes twice in the head and once in the lower back, after Holmes mocked Johnson about Johnson’s son’s death, Assistant State’s Attorney Guy Lisuzzo said during a bond hearing. The two men knew each other, but hadn’t seen each other in years before their fateful encounter, Lisuzzo said.

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Darnell Mitchell was fatally shot early Thursday near his home in the Jeffery Manor neighborhood on the South Side.

About 2:10 a.m., the 40-year-old was standing in an alley behind his home in the 9600 block of South Euclid, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Someone approached on foot and and fired shots, and Mitchell suffered three gunshot wounds to the torso, one to the head and one to the buttocks, authorities said. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 2:26 a.m.

Area South detectives were conducting a homicide investigation.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

By MATTHEW HENDRICKSON
Chicago Sun-Times

A line of mourners reached from Simone McKay’s casket to the back of St. Margaret of Scotland Church at her funeral.

The Rev. Paul Whittington, from St. Margaret of Scotland Church, consoles Vicki McKay after her daughter’s funeral Saturday. Simone McKay was a student at Chicago State University. | Leslie Adkins/For the Sun-Times

The crowd filled the pews below the parish’s blue cathedral ceiling Saturday and talked about the 26-year-old woman who was taken from them too soon, for reasons no one could understand.

The priest said God had called her home. One woman said that, through her two children, ages 2 and 5, McKay gave more life to the world than someone decided to take last week.

Officers responding to a call of a person shot just after midnight Oct. 15 found McKay suffering from a gunshot wound to the head on the steps of her home in the 9600 block of South Forest, authorities said. She died at the scene.
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By ANDY GRIMM
Chicago Sun-Times

A 24-year-old man found dead in Austin on Sunday had taunted his killer about the murder of the gunman’s teenage son, Cook County prosecutors said in court Wednesday.

Terrance Johnson | Chicago Police

Terrance Johnson, 40, was ordered held without bond on a charge of first-degree murder for shooting Lonnell Holmes twice in the head and once in the lower back, after Holmes mocked Johnson about Johnson’s son’s death, Assistant State’s Attorney Guy Lisuzzo said during a hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse.

The two men knew each other, but hadn’t seen each other in years before their fateful encounter in the 1000 block of North Lavergne around 8:40 p.m. Sunday, Lisuzzo said.

Witnesses saw Johnson leaving the scene, then pointed him out to police when he returned to the area and entered a house nearby. An arrest report lists Johnson’s address as being about a block from the scene of the shooting.

Lonnell Holmes | Facebook

Officers went to the house and arrested Johnson, who later gave a taped statement to detectives admitting to the shooting, Lisuzzo said. The flannel shirt Johnson had been wearing when he was arrested had traces of gunpowder on it, he said.

Johnson, whose lawyer said his client was a self-employed mechanic with a 10-year-old daughter and two teenage children, also has multiple felony convictions and was paroled last year on a drug conviction.

Holmes, 24, was a graduate of Orr High School and also attended Malcolm X College. He worked for Walmart.

By ANDY GRIMM
Chicago Sun-Times

A south suburban man fatally stabbed Elizabeth Kennedy, his ex-girlfriend in front of her 13-year-old daughter, wounded a second man and slashed the teen’s 75-year-old grandfather during a family argument that exploded into violence on Sunday in Marquette Park, prosecutors said.

Elizabeth Kennedy | Facebook

Kennedy, 36, was stabbed in the chest by Eddie Crowder as Crowder swung a knife at a 34-year-old man, with whom Kennedy also has children, Assistant State’s Attorney Jason Coelho said Tuesday at a bail hearing. Kennedy had gone to the man’s home in the 3300 block of West Marquette about 6 p.m. Sunday to drop off her 13-year-old daughter.

Crowder arrived at the house with the man’s 75-year-old father, Coelho said.

The second man confronted Crowder about an altercation between the man’s 16-year-old son and Crowder that happened two months earlier, and the argument quickly escalated into a shoving match. Kennedy and the man’s 75-year-old father tried to break up the fight, and the 75-year-old was knocked to the ground when Crowder threw a punch at the younger man and missed.
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