Homicide Watch Chicago

A well-known and respected west suburban businessman was shot to death while driving in the North Austin neighborhood early Friday on the West Side, but police are uncertain whether Ronald L. Allen was the intended target.

Allen, who grew up in the Austin neighborhood, was one of the first black owners of an insurance agency backed by a major national company, Allstate, before retiring about seven years ago.

He was also an activist whose goal was to help repair the relationssip between police and communities with the group Urban Partnership.

Family members said on Facebook that Allen, 73, was returning from playing cards with friends the night he he was shot.

At about 2:20 a.m. in the 1300 block of North Laramie, someone opened fire on his vehicle and he was struck in the side, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

His vehicle crashed into two parked cars, and he was pronounced dead at the scene at 2:43 a.m., authorities said. It wasn’t clear whether he was the intended target.

Allen, who lived in the 2800 block of Bond Circle in Naperville, had founded the A. Allen Insurance Agency in Austin. A graduate of Chicago State University, he also hosted a radio show called “The Financial Forum” on WVON-AM. He also served as a precinct committeeman in Naperville Township and was active in the DuPage County NAACP.

Family members said it was not unusual for Allen to be playing cards with friends in his old neighborhood. He loved the game Bid Whist so much that he even wrote a book, “The Evolution of Bid Whist,” on the history and strategy of the popular game.

—Homicide Watch Chicago

By JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

A man who received a call claiming his sister had been beaten has been charged with fatally shooting her boyfriend, Lamont Alexander, in the North Lawndale neighborhood a year ago.

Alonzo Redditt, 21, faces one count of first-degree murder for the Dec. 4, 2015, shooting of the 23-year-old Alexander, according the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

Redditt got a call saying that his sister had been beaten by her boyfriend, Alexander, and went to confront him, prosecutors said during Redditt’s bond hearing Thursday.

The men got into a fight shortly before 4 p.m. in the street in the 4100 block of West 21st Street. Another man approached and grabbed Alexander from behind, pulling him away from Redditt, police and prosecutors said.

Redditt then pulled out a handgun and hit Alexander three times in the face, before shooting him in the head, prosecutors said.
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By JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

A man already serving a 22-year prison sentence for tying up his former roommate and beating him with a hammer in 2007 in Washington Park faces upgraded charges after Robert Bishop died in October.

Terry Hood, 61, was convicted of aggravated battery of a senior citizen for the May 8, 2007, attack, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. He is serving his sentence in the downstate Pinckneyville Correctional Center.

That day, the landlord of Bishop’s apartment building in the 5100 block of South Calumet heard several noises, including thumping and banging, coming from Bishop’s apartment for several hours, prosecutors said during Hood’s bond hearing Thursday.

About midnight, he went to Bishop’s apartment to investigate and heard what sounded like Hood’s voice yelling, prosecutors said. When the landlord knocked, the yelling stopped. When he eventually entered, he saw the apartment in disarray and blood on the floor, prompting him to run to a neighbor’s apartment.
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A man beaten to death with a bottle Monday evening in the West Englewood neighborhood has been identified as 41-year-old Charles Johnson.

Paramedics called for police help after finding him about 6:30 p.m. near the intersection of 63rd Street and Ashland, according to Chicago Police.

He had been struck in the head with a bottle during a fight, police said.

Johnson died at Stroger Hospital at 7:13 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He lived in the 7300 block of South Kedzie in Chicago Lawn.

An autopsy found he died of multiple head injuries from an assault with a bottle, and his death was ruled a homicide, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Area South detectives are investigating, but no one was in custody as of early Friday.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Gregorio Aguilar was found fatally shot early Tuesday just about a block away from his home in the Cragin neighborhood on the Northwest Side.

Officers responding to calls of a person down at 1:32 a.m. in the 2500 block of North Lavergne found the 51-year-old Aguilar with a gunshot wound to the lower abdomen, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

He was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:50 a.m., according to the medical examiner’s office. He lived in the 5000 block of West Deming.

An autopsy found Aguilar died of multiple gunshot wounds and his death was ruled a homicide.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

A man fatally shot Wednesday night in the South Shore neighborhood has been identified as 22-year-old Trayvon M. Dickerson, but the circumstances of the shooting remain a mystery.

About 8:05 p.m., officers responding to a call of shots fired in the 6800 block of South Cornell found Dickerson in a gangway, Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. He had suffered gunshot wounds to the head and abdomen, and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Dickerson previously lived in the 6400 block of South Ellis, the examiner’s office said.

The circumstances of the attack were unknown, according to police.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

By JEFF MAYES and JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

At least 12 people were shot to death in Chicago last week as a violent year continued with no sign of colder weather stopping the bloodshed in the streets.

November closed with 77 murder victims in the city, making it the third-deadliest month of the year, according to Chicago Police. October was second with 78 homicide victims, while the highest death toll of the year so far was in August, when more than 90 people were killed.

November saw a total 316 shooting incidents and 389 shooting victims, according to police, who claim the increase in violence is driven by five police districts on the South and West sides.

The city also passed the grim milestone of 700 homicides for the year in November, the first time has happened since 1998. Through the end of November, there were 714 homicides, according to Chicago Sun-Times Wire records.

Through Nov. 30, the city has had a total of 4,048 shooting victims in 3,315 shooting incidents in 2016, according to police.
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Addonis Johnson was shot to death Tuesday night along the border of the South Shore and South Chicago neighborhoods.

Shortly after 8 p.m., officers responding to a reported shooting in the 2800 block of East 79th Street found the 30-year-old Johnson on a sidewalk with two gunshot wounds to the chest, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Johnson was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died at 9:08 p.m., authorities said. He lived in the 9000 block of South Dante.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

A man and a teenage boy found shot to death Monday evening inside a vehicle in the Back of the Yards neighborhood are believed to be related, but authorities could not confirm the relationship between Leny Cervantes and Jamie Cervantes.

Officers on patrol discovered 19-year-old Leny Cervantes and 17-year-old Jamie Cervantes inside a vehicle about 6:15 p.m. Monday in the 4500 block of South Wolcott, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The older man had been shot in the head, while the boy had been shot in the abdomen, authorities said. Both were pronounced dead at the scene at 6:35 p.m.

Autopsies Tuesday found both victims died of multiple gunshot wounds and their deaths were ruled homicides.

Friends posted on social media that the two victims were related, but the nature of the relationship was unclear. Authorities would not confirm a relationship, but did say both victims lived in the 6400 block of South Bell.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

A holiday weekend party turned deadly in South Chicago on Saturday night when two people started shooting, leaving 18-year-old Dequan M. Barnett dead and five other people wounded, one critically.

It happened about 2:15 a.m. in the 8800 block of South Exchange, according to Chicago Police. Community activist Andrew Holmes said people at the party jumped from a second-floor porch and windows after two people started shooting.

Barnett was shot in the chest and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He lived in the 4500 block of South Lake Park Avenue.

A 20-year-old man shot in the groin was taken in critical condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, along with a 21-year-old man with an arm wound whose condition was stabilized, police said.

A 25-year-old woman was taken to Stroger Hospital with a graze wound to the head; a 22-year-old man shot in the hand went to Trinity Hospital; and a 23-year-old man shot in the arm went to the University of Chicago Medical Center, police said. Their conditions were stabilized.

Three hours earlier, another 18-year-old man had been seriously wounded in another shooting a block away.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire