WEEK IN REVIEW: 15 die from violence, including 2 in mass shooting incidents, man forced to ingest bleach

Jeff Mayes — Thu, 16 Mar 2017 14:18:59 -0500

By JEFF MAYES
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Just one week after no fatal shootings were reported in Chicago for the first time in over four years, the city saw another outbreak of violence that left at least 15 people killed, including a pair of separate incidents in which two men died. Another man died after his girlfriends poured bleach into his face during a domestic argument.

Two men were killed and one wounded in an Edgewater neighborhood shooting early Sunday on the North Side. Quentin Payton, 28, and a 32-year-old man were standing outside at 12:34 a.m. on the sidewalk in the 6300 block of North Broadway when someone in a dark-colored SUV opened fire, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Payton was shot in the head and was taken to Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston, where he was pronounced dead, police said. The older man suffered a gunshot wound to the left leg and was also taken to Saint Francis, where his condition was stabilized.

More than 30 minutes later, 22-year-old Chaz Johnson showed up at Community First Medical Center suffering from a gunshot wound to the left side of his torso, police said. He had been sitting in the back seat of a vehicle when he was shot and investigators eventually determined he was a third victim from the Edgewater incident. Johnson was later transferred in critical condition to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he died at 8:43 a.m., authorities said.

In the week's other mass shooting, four men were struck early Friday at a Washington Park neighborhood gas station on the South Side, leaving two dead, according to police. Responding officers found the victims just before 2 a.m. in the foyer of the GoLo station in the 100 block of East 51st Street. Witnesses said a gray four-door Chevrolet pulled up and opened fire on the men before taking off north on Indiana Avenue.

Lavelle Cox, 24, was shot repeatedly and died at the scene. Jawon C. Carter, also 24, died at Stroger Hospital of gunshot wounds to the torso and both legs, police said.

A 25-year-old man was shot in both legs and grazed across the head. He was taken in serious condition to Stroger along with a 64-year-old man who was stabilized with a gunshot wound to the leg, police said.

A 26-year-old man died early Monday after being forced to ingest bleach in the South Side West Englewood neighborhood. Police were called about 3:26 a.m. to the 6500 block of South Bishop, where Darrius Ellis was found outside, according to police and the medical examiner's office. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he died.
An autopsy Tuesday showed the cause of death was "complications of forcible administration of a caustic substance," according to the medical examiner's office, which ruled the death a homicide. The medical examiner's office said Ellis was forced to ingest bleach. Ellis' girlfriend was later charged with murder for allegedly pouring bleach onto his face and down his throat during an argument. Yasmine T. Elder, 24, was ordered held on a $1 million bond, authorities said.
The week's final homicide victim was 62-year-old man who died Sunday of head injuries suffered in a University Village fight nearly two weeks earlier on the Near West Side. About 1:45 p.m. Feb. 28, officers found Robert Crenshaw unresponsive on the ground after a fight in the 1500 block of West Hastings, according to police and the medical examiner’s office.
Crenshaw suffered swelling and a deep cut to his head, and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he died at 11:20 p.m. Sunday, authorities said. He lived in the neighborhood where the fight happened. An autopsy found he died of complications from blunt force head trauma suffered during an assault, and ruled his death a homicide.
A 36-year-old man was shot to death Saturday night in the Longwood Manor neighborhood on the South Side. At 10:33 p.m., officers heard shots near the 9500 block of South State Street and found the victim with gunshot wounds to the chest, neck and head, police said. He was the driver of a black Yukon that had stopped at a light, facing north on State. Rolan T. Johnson, who lived in the Chatham neighborhood, was pronounced dead at the scene at 10:51 p.m., according to the medical examiner’s office. An autopsy Sunday ruled his death a homicide.
A 24-year-old man died Saturday morning after being shot the night before in the Heart of Chicago neighborhood on the South Side. About 7:35 p.m. Friday, Miguel Cabrales Vasquez was in the 2200 block of West 21st Street when people approached him on foot and opened fire before running away, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Cabrales suffered a gunshot wound to his head and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he died at 8:52 a.m. on Saturday. He lived about three blocks from where he was shot.
A man was killed and a woman wounded in a Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood shooting early Saturday on the South Side. The victims, both 34, were shot about 5:30 a.m. in the 500 block of East 75th Street, according to police. The shooting was preceded by an argument that turned physical, and a person pulled out a gun a fired shots. Jarrod Johnson was shot in the head and shoulder, and was taken by a friend to St. Bernard Hospital, where he died at 6:03 a.m., police and the medical examiner’s office said. Johnson lived in the Roseland neighborhood. The woman was shot in the abdomen and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where her condition was stabilized, police said.
A 23-year-old man died Friday, more than three months after he was shot last year in the Gresham neighborhood on the South Side. Alex Strong was one of three people wounded in an afternoon drive-by shooting on Nov. 26, 2016, in the 8700 block of South Wood, according to police and the medical examiner's office. Strong and two other men — ages 23 and 26 — were struck by bullets when someone fired from a black SUV, police said.
Strong was sitting inside a vehicle when he was shot in the head. He was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in critical condition. His condition was stabilized and he was taken to a long-term care facility. On Friday, Strong was taken to Mercy Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 8:23 p.m., the medical examiner’s office said. An autopsy on Saturday found he died of complications from a gunshot wound to his neck and his death was ruled a homicide.
A man was shot and killed Tuesday afternoon in the South Side Englewood neighborhood. Officers responded to a call of shots fired about 12:45 p.m. in the 5500 block of South Wells and found 19-year-old Lavelle D. Morgan shot twice in the neck, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Morgan, who lived on the same block, was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:12 p.m.
A 22-year-old man was shot to death Tuesday in the South Side Gresham neighborhood. Officers responding to reports of a man down found Emanuel Ruff unresponsive on the sidewalk with multiple gunshot wounds at 3:11 a.m. in the 1100 block of West 76th, according to police and the medical examiner's office. Ruff, of the Washington Heights neighborhood, was pronounced dead at the scene.
A south suburban woman was killed and a second man critically wounded in a shooting a couple of hours and just two blocks away in Gresham. Daryn Beach, 24; and a 35-year-old man were sitting in a vehicle at 1:19 a.m. in the 1300 block of West 76th Street when two people walked up, and one pulled out a handgun and fired shots into the vehicle, according to police and the medical examiner's office.
Beach, of Calumet City, was shot in her head and was taken to Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, where she was pronounced dead at 1:36 a.m., authorities said. The man suffered three gunshot wounds to the abdomen, one gunshot wound to the chin and one gunshot wound to a hand, police said. He was taken in critical condition to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.
A man who beat murder charges due to a technicality earlier this year was shot to death late Monday, half an hour after bonding out of the Cook County Jail on a separate armed robbery charge. At 11:12 p.m., Kamari Belmont was released from jail after posting 10 percent of a $100,000 bond, according to the Cook County sheriff’s office. At 11:43 p.m., the 23-year-old was riding in a vehicle less than a mile from the jail when a white SUV pulled alongside and someone inside opened fire, hitting him in the back and torso, according to police. At 11:57 p.m., he was pronounced dead after collapsing in the street in the 3300 block of South California, authorities said.
Belmont and two other men, 23-year-old Terrence Hogans and 21-year-old Khalil Powell, were charged with a pair of robberies that happened within an hour of each other early on May 1, 2015, police said at the time. Hogans shot one of the victims in their first alleged robbery, which happened about 2 a.m. in the 3700 block of South Vincennes, Cook County prosecutors said at their bond hearing. That victim, 40-year-old North Side man Sorrell Marshall, died three weeks later of complications from his gunshot wounds.
A man was shot to death Monday evening in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood on the Southwest Side. Clarence Hart, 29, was shot in the neck around 6:30 p.m. while sitting in a car in the 6400 block of South Claremont, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Hart, who lived about a block away from where the shooting occurred, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:03 p.m.

Argument in van leads to woman pouring bleach on her boyfriend's face, killing Darrius Ellis in West Englewood

Jeff Mayes — Thu, 09 Mar 2017 15:19:05 -0600

By RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times

Yasmine Elder | Chicago Police

A South Side woman used an unusual method to kill her boyfriend Darrius Ellis—poisoning him with bleach—and now she's charged with murder, Cook County prosecutors said Thursday.

Ellis, 26, died after he ingested bleach during a fight with Yasmine T. Elder, 24, in a minivan earlier this week, Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph Carlson said in court Thursday. Judge Donald Panarese Jr. ordered Elder held on a $1 million bond.

Early Monday morning, the couple started arguing after Elder picked up Ellis from work in West Englewood, Carlson said.

At one point, Elder, who is 5-foot-3 and 207 pounds, climbed on top Ellis as he was lying in the vehicle’s bucket seats, Carlson said. Ellis stood 5-foot-7 and weighed only 130 pounds.

Darrius Ellis | Facebook

Elder went on to grab Ellis’ dreadlocks and then placed her knee on top of him before they started struggling with a bottle of bleach that was in the minivan, Carlson said.

Elder allegedly doused the liquid on Ellis’ face, causing the bleach to go down his throat.

Elder then got off Ellis and left the minivan, Carlson said. As she walked away from the 6500 block of South Bishop, she heard Ellis yell that he couldn’t breathe, prosecutors said.

Elder drove the minivan to a friend’s apartment and told that person and others there that she had poisoned Ellis, Carlson said. Ellis, who had a large bleach stain on his shirt, ended up collapsing on the landing and foaming at the mouth, Carlson said.

The friends called 911 and emergency workers took him to Stroger Hospital, where he died.

When one of Ellis’ friends walked to his home to tell his family what had happened, Elder happened to be strolling nearby, Carlson said. That friend confronted Elder, who admitted she poured bleach on Ellis, Carlson said.

Elder didn’t smell of bleach and appeared to be uninjured, the friend noticed. But when Elder was arrested the same day, authorities noticed she had an injury on her hand consistent with a bleach burn, Carlson said.

Ellis’ body and clothing were consistent with bleach being forcibly ingested, according to an autopsy by the Cook County medical examiner’s office. His internal injuries to his esophagus and stomach were consistent with chemical burns, and his stomach had a PH level between 12 and 13, the autopsy revealed. Normal PH levels are between 5 and 6.

The autopsy also showed he had rounded abrasions to his neck, cheeks and back, consistent with fingernail marks caused by being held down, Carlson said.

Besides her murder charge, Elder is on court supervision for hitting a neighbor with a metal lock in Winnebago County, Carlson said. She is single, graduated from high school and used to work in a bakery, Assistant Public Defender Lorne Gorelick said.

Yasmine T. Elder | Homicide Watch Chicago

WEEK IN REVIEW: 15 die from violence, including 2 in mass shooting incidents, man forced to ingest bleach

Argument in van leads to woman pouring bleach on her boyfriend's face, killing Darrius Ellis in West Englewood