Daniel Brown | Homicide Watch Chicago

WEEK IN REVIEW: Eight killed throughout Chicago

Michael Lansu — Mon, 13 Oct 2014 10:57:11 -0500

BY MICHAEL LANSU
Homicide Watch Chicago Editor

At least eight men were murdered throughout Chicago last week.

Three of the victims were fatally shot over the weekend, when at least 17 other people were wounded by gunfire.

The most recent killing happened when 20-year-old Juan Mercado was shot while sitting on a front porch in the 2300 block of North Melvina Avenue in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood about 6:45 p.m. Sunday, authorities said.

Mercado, of the 2200 block of North Mulligan Avenue, was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he died less than an hour later, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

On Saturday, 22-year-old Eddie Taylor was shot when an argument started at a party in the 4400 block of West Madison Street in West Garfield Park about 1:10 a.m., authorities said.

Taylor, 22, of the 1900 block of South Homan Avenue, was shot in the face and died at the scene, authorities said. Three other people were wounded in the shooting.

On Friday, 20-year-old Roddy Comer was shot near South Carpenter Street and West 88th Street in Auburn Gresham about 10:50 p.m., authorities said.

Comer, 20, of the 7100 block of South Maplewood Avenue, was shot in the back and buttocks and died at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn early Saturday, authorities said. A 16-year-old boy was also wounded but survived.

On Thursday, prosecutors claim Shawanda Swain stabbed her boyfriend, 23-year-old Damani Chenier, during a domestic fight in her home the 5100 block of South Hyde Park Boulevard about 3:10 a.m.

Chenier, of the 10000 block of South Vernon Avenue, died at Northwestern Memorial Hospital about an hour later, according to the medical examiner’s office said.

Swain, 21, was charged Friday with first-degree murder and ordered held on $500,000 bond.

On Wednesday, 52-year-old Larry Lee was was shot in the 700 block of South Springfield Avenue in the West Garfield Park neighborhood about 10:30 p.m., authorities said. Witnesses told police they heard shots and saw the man lying on the ground, police said.

Lee, of the 3800 block of West Polk Street, died at Mount Sinai Hospital less than an hour later, according to the medical examiner’s office.

On Tuesday, 22-year-old Jackie Roberson was shot in the head while walking in the 10700 block of South Wentworth Avenue in Roseland about 12:10 p.m., authorities said.

Roberson, of the 10600 block of South Wentworth Avenue, died at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn at 2:39 p.m. Wednesday, according to the medical examiner's office.

On Tuesday, Daniel Brown allegedly fatally shot 42-year-old Daniel Jackson during a standoff with police in the 7200 block of South Lowe Avenue, authorities said.

Brown, 42, is also accused of shooting a Chicago Police captain during the standoff in the Englewood neighborhood and is being held without bond.

The killings started when 37-year-old Torrence Pickens was shot multiple times inside a vehicle in the 100 block of East 44th Street about 5:30 p.m. Monday, authorities said.

Pickens, of the 3400 block of South King Drive, was dead at the scene, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Additionally, an unidentified teenager died last Monday from a gunshot to the head he suffered Oct. 4 in the 5400 block of South Talman Avenue, authorities said. Officers found the boy shot in the street and he remains unidentified.

Overall, the medical examiner’s office has ruled at least 340 Chicago deaths in 2014 a homicide — including 12 people killed by police.

Chicago Police, which counts murders different by following federal guidelines, have ruled some of those homicides as involuntary manslaughter, justified self-defense or accidents.

UPDATE: Daniel Brown held without bond in shooting death of Daniel Jackson during shootout with police

Michael Lansu — Fri, 10 Oct 2014 14:49:14 -0500

Daniel Brown / Photo from Chicago Police

BY RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times

The Chicago Police captain wounded in a deadly Englewood shootout Tuesday was injured while warning his colleagues about the armed Indiana fugitive who had opened fire at the first officers who had arrived on the scene, prosecutors said Friday.

Capt. Ed Kulbida was taking cover in a vestibule with other officers Tuesday night when he decided to use his police radio to contact assisting units about the danger they could be in if they entered the first-floor apartment where Daniel Brown was holed up in the 7200 block of South Lowe Avenue, said Assistant State’s Attorney Robert Mack.

But Kulbida couldn’t get a signal, so he moved away from the building’s vestibule, which was located under a window of the apartment where Brown hid, Mack said.

That’s when Brown allegedly fired his weapon, striking Kulbida in the head and shoulder.

Kulbida’s colleagues dragged him back to safety under the vestibule.

Soon, the officers and Brown were exchanging volleys of gunfire, Mack said.

During the shootout, another Chicago Police officer was hit in the leg by a bullet fragment.

Mack said that officer was not struck by any bullets fired by Brown, 42.

Kulbida, who suffered hearing loss as a result of the shooting, still has bullet fragments lodged his head, Mack said.

The bullet that entered his shoulder was recovered from his back.

Kulbida had arrived on the scene after Brown had fired shots at the police officers who initially tried to enter his apartment building, Mack said.

Members of the Chicago Police Department Fugitive Task Force and U.S. Marshals office, who were looking for Brown to serve him an arrest warrant from Indiana, were tipped off that Brown was at his sister’s first-floor apartment, authorities said.

After six hours and 39-shots, police got inside the apartment at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Once inside they saw that 42-year-old Daniel Jackson, Brown’s sister’s boyfriend, had been killed in the gun battle.

Jackson died from a “close range” single gunshot wound to the chest, Mack said.

Brown, who had a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson pistol, was the only person with Jackson when Jackson was gunned down, but additional ballistics testing is being conducted, Mack said.

The weapon was purchased in Indiana in 2012 and was registered to Brown’s address in Indianapolis.

Daniel Jackson / Photo from Cook County Sheriff's office

Brown is a Gulf War veteran who is bipolar and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, assistant public defenders said Friday.

Brown, who appeared in court with his arm in a cast, was ordered held without bail for murder and attempted murder.

Brown first appeared in court on Friday for a brief hearing involving his fugitive arrest warrant in Indiana where he is facing attempted murder, armed robbery auto theft and weapons charges.

Brown is a Chicago Vocational Career Academy grad and was in the Navy, an assistant public defender told Judge Laura Sullivan.

Brown has two previous drug convictions in Indiana and Cook County.

Daniel Brown charged with murder in death of Daniel Jackson during Englewood standoff

Michael Lansu — Thu, 09 Oct 2014 15:26:30 -0500

Daniel Brown / Photo from Chicago Police

BY SUN-TIMES STAFF

For two years, residents in an Indianapolis neighborhood lived in fear of the man with a Jekyll and Hyde personality who allegedly had threatened to shoot anyone who stepped into his yard.

The picture emerging of Daniel Brown — wanted by Indiana authorities for a weekend shooting spree and also suspected of shooting a Chicago Police captain Tuesday night — is that of an unstable middle-age man who could be charming one minute, enraged the next.

“It’s like he was two different people,” said one neighbor on the street where Brown lived with his girlfriend. “You were very careful in your conversations because you didn’t want him to go off.”

According to Indiana police reports, he was never convicted of a crime. But he had a history of run-ins with police, often involving the women in his life, the reports show.

In 2008, a woman alleged to police that Brown assaulted her and harassed her at work, according to police reports. In 2002, a woman alleged that he had punched her, the reports say.

The Saturday shooting of three people in Indianapolis led to a manhunt that ended with a standoff with police Tuesday night in Chicago.

The U.S. Marshal’s Service’s Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force and Chicago Police had zeroed in on Brown’s location, tracking him to his sister’s Englewood home.

In an ensuing gun battle, Chicago Police Capt. Ed Kulbida was shot about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday when Brown allegedly fired shots from the first floor of an apartment building near West 72nd Street and South Lowe Avenue, police said. Kulbida suffered wounds to his head and shoulder and was taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, where he was recovering Wednesday.

After the shooting, hundreds of officers flooded the area, blocking 71st Street for blocks. A six-hour standoff followed the gunbattle, ending when authorities stormed the building, arrested Brown and found another man shot to death.

The dead man was identified by a law enforcement source as Daniel Jackson, 42, who is thought to be Brown’s sister’s boyfriend.

Daniel Jackson / Photo from Cook County Sheriff's office

On Thursday, Brown was charged with one count of first-degree murder, two
counts attempted murder, one count of aggravated battery with a firearm, police said. He was also wanted on a fugitive from justice warrant.

Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said Tuesday night that both Brown and Jackson were considered “offenders” in the standoff. McCarthy said hostage negotiators tried to talk to both men but never got a response.

The captain is the most high-ranking police officer to be shot in quite some time, said Pat Camden, spokesman for the Fraternal Order of Police.

Kulbida, 58, is a 29-year veteran of the department. He has received 146 departmental awards, including seven Department Commendations, according to police.

On Wednesday, he was in good enough spirits to joke around during a visit from Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

“I told him that if this police work doesn’t work out, you should think about the open mike Thursday night at Second City. Incredible sense of humor, given where he was and what had happened,” Emanuel said.

Kulbida also reminded the mayor that he once served with Emanuel’s uncle, based out of the former Area 4 police headquarters.

“He reminded me that he worked with my Uncle Les in the 4th Area. And when I went out and talked to the officers — a lot of the officers [who] were there outside were off-duty, but they worked under him,” Emanuel said. “It spoke volumes that they came to make sure one of their comrades — their leader — was safe. It is also a testament. His father was a police officer. His brother was an officer. That sense of public service that exists in his own family.”

Police in Indianapolis said they had been searching for Brown since Saturday evening, after he allegedly went on an hourlong shooting spree, wounding three people in separate shootings across the city.

Brown knew all the three victims, police said. He was charged with attempted murder and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

The chain of events started when Brown was with his girlfriend, his nephew and the girlfriend’s friend in a car in Brown’s Indianapolis neighborhood. Brown began arguing with his girlfriend about their crumbling relationship, according to charging documents filed in Marion County Circuit Court.

Brown told the friend that she was to blame for the relationship problems, the documents state. Brown then allegedly pulled out a handgun and shot the friend.

The girlfriend, who was driving, stopped her car. The wounded friend and the nephew jumped out of the car and fled. Brown then allegedly continued to shoot at the friend and chase after her, according to the court papers. The friend later collapsed at a nearby gas station.

By the time officers arrived at the scene, Brown was gone. They found the woman inside the nearby gas station with at least one gunshot wound.

As police set up a perimeter, Brown carjacked a man in the parking lot of a nearby hotel, police said. Brown drove several miles to his home, where he ditched the stolen car, grabbed his dog and picked up his own car, police said.

Thirty-six minutes after the first shooting, Brown pulled into motel near his home and shot a second female victim, police said.

About 10 minutes after that, police said he shot a third victim, a man, several blocks away.

Then Brown allegedly stole a tractor-trailer in the Indianapolis area on Sunday from Ryder Transportation Services, where he once worked.

Brown’s Indianapolis neighbor, who didn’t want her name used because she fears for her safety, said that on Saturday night, officers had swarmed into her neighborhood on the north side of the city in search of Brown.

“Police were pounding on our doors, saying you’ve got to get in your car and leave,” the neighbor said.

Brown moved in with his girlfriend on West 72nd Place about two years ago, the neighbor said.

Reached by phone Tuesday, the girlfriend declined to comment.

Brown had a pet pit bull puppy named “Brutus,” the neighbor said.

The neighbor said she and other residents on the street saw Brown kick the dog or beat it with a belt.

“We had several arguments over the way he treated dogs, and the way he threatened other pets in the neighborhood,” the neighbor said.

At one point, Brown threatened to shoot anyone who set foot in his yard or touched his dog, the neighbor said, adding she never actually saw Brown with a gun.

It wasn’t clear how Brown made a living, but he told neighbors he had been in the U.S. Navy.

“Every time we’d argue, he’d bring it up,” the neighbor said. “I’d say, ‘I thank you for that, but . . .’ ”

When Brown first moved in, his girlfriend claimed he had a secret job working for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the neighbor said.

“If he needs mental help, I hope he gets it,” the neighbor said. “But I hope he never gets out.”