Anthony Strong | Homicide Watch Chicago

New Chicago Survivors program aimed at reaching out to families of murder victims

Jeff Mayes — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 14:10:59 -0500

Andrew Holmes on the job for Chicago Survivors in the 9200 block of South Harper Avenue on Friday, July 31. | Brian Jackson/For the Chicago Sun-Times

By FRANK MAIN
Chicago Sun-Times

A stranger approached Yolanda Strong at the hospital on the day her husband was shot to death.

At first, she thought he was a Chicago Police detective.

But the man in the suit was Andrew Holmes, a crisis responder for a new $1.7 million, two-year program funded by the city. He offered to arrange counseling for her family, help her apply for victims’ compensation, and to keep her in touch with detectives and prosecutors.

“I was so devastated,” said Strong, who was huddling with her family at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn when Holmes showed up.

“I wasn’t in my right mind,” she said. “He gave me the victims’ paperwork and said he could assist with the funeral arrangements and everything.”

Holmes said he knows survivors like Strong aren’t thinking about the future on the day a loved one is killed.

Over the Fourth of July weekend, Strong had watched in horror while a family friend, John Watley, allegedly shot her husband, Anthony Strong, because he was angry that Strong was touching his Cadillac.

John Watley | Chicago Police

“I remember [Watley] saying, let the ‘mother——’ die,” Strong said, her voice full of grief.

Holmes revisited Strong’s family last week to renew his offer of support.

“Sometimes when they go through this trauma, they forget the small things,” he said. “We are there for six months to a year to make sure they have strong support.”

Holmes is one of three crisis responders and four family-support specialists who assist murder victims’ families in a program overseen by the city’s Department of Public Health.

It’s funded through a U.S. Department of Justice grant intended to fight terrorism and provide emergency assistance to crime victims.

Holmes and the others work for Chicago Survivors, which subcontracts with a mental health agency, Thresholds. They earn about $40,000 a year, city officials said.

The program started in June in the South Chicago and Calumet police districts on the Far South Side, where murders have skyrocketed this year compared to the same period of 2014. Last week, the program expanded to the Deering, Harrison, Austin and Grand Central districts.

So far, Chicago Survivors has responded to 27 murders.

Gun violence is something that Holmes knows about first-hand. He was shot more than 25 years ago, and it took him six months to learn to walk again.

“That really inspired me to solve some of this gun violence,” he said. “I got shot in the artery in my left leg. I understand the pain they suffer.”

Last year, his nephew was wounded by gunfire in the Englewood neighborhood.

Other members of the team have had relatives who were murdered.

Holmes, 52, said he became a community activist as an aide to former Ald. Terry Peterson and former state Rep. Milton Patterson. After Patterson left office in 2009, Holmes continued his work on behalf of seniors, victims of domestic abuse, and families of homicide victims. He said he also helps search for missing kids as a volunteer with a private investigation firm.

When there’s a killing in one of the six districts, the police department’s intelligence center notifies one of the Chicago Survivors crisis responders like Holmes.

They’re available 24/7 to rush to the scene of the murder, or the hospital—or wherever the surviving family members are.

The crisis responders have city identification cards to let officers know they belong there.

If they’re at the scene of a crime, the crisis responders approach the family after the detectives finish interviewing them. If the family has gone to the hospital, the crisis responders meet them there.

The goal is to help families cope with their trauma—and to help break the cycle of violence by persuading survivors not to retaliate.

“Sometimes at a crime scene, the family is very distraught and they take their frustration out on the police by yelling and calling them names,” Holmes said. “We let them know there’s a reason why they can’t be with their loved ones lying on the street. They want to touch them, be with them. We let them know the detectives have to see whether there is any evidence left at the crime scene to let them know who discharged that weapon.”

Family members are often surprised to learn that only two immediate relatives are allowed to view the body at the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Holmes lets them know what to expect.

“We have to get inside their hearts, their shoes,” he said. “You have a lot of frustration. We help those individuals not to retaliate. We get them in the thick of things to show them a different route, not to retaliate but help to solve this crime.”

It’s similar to what CeaseFire, another conflict-resolution group, was asked to do under another contract with the city in 2012.

But Mayor Rahm Emanuel decided not to renew that one-year, $1 million contract with CeaseFire, whose employees include former gang members and ex-offenders who meet with victims’ relatives to try to broker truces. The program had suffered a major public relations setback when its director at the time, Tio Hardiman, was arrested on a domestic-violence charge that was later dropped.

John Escalante, chief of detectives for the Chicago Police Department, said the new Chicago Survivors program “has worked very well” with detectives so far.

“They have defused some potentially volatile situations,” he said, adding that detectives have “open lines of communication” with Chicago Survivors response team members in case they learn something of value to an investigation.

The crisis responders have gone to roll calls at the police districts to introduce themselves to the officers, Escalante said.

“They stay outside the yellow tape until we tell them we’re done,” he said. “They have definitely stayed in their lane, so to speak. They have not interfered in any investigations.”

The program could go citywide before the end of the year, officials say.

“This is a great example of how our city departments are coming together to work with community partners to strengthen our response to violence,” Emanuel said.

Prosecutor: Anthony Strong killed by longtime friend because he touched the man's car

Jeff Mayes — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 15:02:23 -0500

By RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times

A Calumet Heights man shot and killed his longtime friend Anthony Strong over the July Fourth weekend because the pal touched his Cadillac, Cook County prosecutors said in court Tuesday.

John Watley was angry that Strong and others were touching his car Sunday, so he went inside his home in the 9200 block of South Harper Avenue, returned with a machete and told everyone to get away from his ride, assistant state’s attorney Enrique Abraham said.

Most of the crowd walked away from the parked vehicle but the 48-year-old Strong, who had been drinking with Watley and other neighbors earlier, started drumming his fingers against the Cadillac, Abraham said.

Watley, 58, then went back inside his house. When he came back outside, Strong continued drumming on Watley’s car, Abraham said.

“Mother——, you keep messing with me,” Watley yelled before he fired at the friend he had known for over 40 years, Abraham said.

John Watley | Chicago Police

A bullet went straight to Strong’s chest.

As Strong’s wife came to his aid, Watley allegedly said, “Let that mother—— die.”

Several onlookers called 911 and police arrived on the scene shortly after.

Two of Watley’s nephews also witnessed the shooting and gave statements to police, Abraham said. Detectives said both the nephews and Strong’s wife told detectives Watley had admitted: “I shot him.”

One of the nephews took the gun from his uncle following the deadly shooting, Abraham said.

That nephew then removed the magazine and chambered bullet from the weapon, and threw the gun on the ground, Abraham said.

Watley allegedly picked the 9 mm handgun off the ground and put it on his waistband and admitted to responding officers what he had done, Abraham said.

The nephew who had taken the gun turned over the magazine and 10 live rounds to police.

Watley has been living on Social Security since he was badly injured in a car accident in 1990, an assistant public defender told Judge Laura Sullivan. A father of one, he has worked as a car mechanic before the crash, the defense attorney added.

Watley’s only previous brush with the law was in 1977, when he received one year’s probation for auto theft.

Sullivan ordered Watley held without bond Tuesday.

WEEK IN REVIEW: 16 people killed in Chicago violence, including 11 over holiday weekend

Jeff Mayes — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 18:45:48 -0500

By JARED LANDSMAN and TRISTAN SIMS
Homicide Watch Chicago

Sixteen people were killed throughout Chicago last week, 11 of them over a violent Independence Day weekend,when the victims included a 7-year-old boy hot while watching fireworks in Humboldt Park on Saturday.

Seven-year-old Amari Brown, who lived in the 500 block of North Drake, and a 26-year-old woman were not the intended targets when they were shot while standing in the 1100 block of North Harding just before midnight.

Police said Sunday the bullet that fatally wounded the boy on the Fourth of July was meant for his father. Both Amari and the woman were shot in the chest at 11:55 p.m., police said.

The child's father, Antonio Brown, a ranking gang member who has been arrested 45 times on charges ranging from burglary to gun possession, was not cooperating with police as they tried to find his son’s killer, Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said Sunday.

The woman was was also taken to Stroger, where her condition stabilized.

The latest killing was Sunday afternoon involving a 48-year-old man who was shot in the Calumet Heights neighborhood.

Anthony Strong was shot in the right side of his chest about 4:55 p.m. in the 9200 block of South Harper, police said.

Strong, who lived in the same block he was shot, was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead at 6:06 p.m., the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.

Police said they were questioning a person of interest.

Earlier, two brothers from Missouri died Sunday morning after shots were fired at an SUV in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood on the South Side.

John Hunter, 25, and his brother Willie Hunter, 31, were sitting inside an SUV about 6:10 a.m. in the 8800 block of South Bishop, when another male walked up and opened fire, according to police and the medical examiner’s office.

The SUV—driven by the younger brother—sped away, but then crashed into a building in the 1600 block of West 89th, authorities said.

John Hunter, of the 300 block of East Ashley Street in Jefferson City, Missouri, was shot multiple times. He was taken to Christ Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 7 a.m., authorities said.

Willie Hunter, of the 1200 block of East High Street in Jefferson City, was discovered unresponsive in the vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. An autopsy Monday revealed he also died from gunshot wounds.

At about 5 a.m. that morning, a man was hit and killed by a minivan during an argument in North Lawndale.

27-year-old John Perry and a 23-year-old woman were involved in a verbal and physical altercation in the 1100 block of South Francisco, according to police and the medical examiner’s office.

At some point, the woman got into a minivan, drove onto the sidewalk and struck the man with the vehicle before speeding off, police said.

Perry, who lives on the 400 block of West 65th Place, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later, the medical examiner’s office said.

An autopsy Monday found that he died of mechanical asphyxia from being hit and pinned under the vehicle, the medical examiner’s office said. His death was ruled a homicide.

Chicago Police continue to investigate. It was not clear if anyone was in custody as of Monday afternoon.

Earlier Sunday, a man was killed in a shooting that left two others wounded in the Northwest Side Albany Park neighborhood.

Jeremy Spivey, 23, and the two others were sitting inside a van in an alley near Sunnyside and Kimball about 2:30 a.m. when a male walked up and fired shots, authorities said.

Spivey, of the 4700 block of West Belmont, was shot multiple times and taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 4:03 a.m., authorities said.

A 17-year-old boy was shot in the right leg and taken to Masonic, where his condition was stabilized. A 26-year-old woman was shot in the right finger and was being treated at Swedish Covenant Hospital, police said.

Relatives of the 17-year-old, who live near the shooting, said they spent the day barbecuing and watching fireworks for the Fourth of July. A female relative said she had heard gunshots around their home between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., then again at 10 p.m.

She took her family inside just five minutes before the shooting. She and her children said they heard about seven gunshots but didn’t think anything of it until they heard ambulances pull up.

About an hour and a half earlier, a 26-year-old man was shot to death in the South Shore neighborhood.

Dominic Fairley Jr. was sitting in his car in the 7700 block of South South Shore Drive about 1 a.m. when someone walked up and fired shots into the car, authorities said.

He was taken to South Shore Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:19 a.m. He lived in the 8500 block of South Hermitage, authorities said. Police said the shooting is possibly gang-related.

17-year-old Vonzell Banks was gunned down on Friday near the recently renamed Hadiya Peddleton park, names for the King College Prep student who was slain in 2013.

Banks was shot in the back, like Peddleton. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:31 p.m., according to police and the medical examiner’s office.

Earlier Friday, a man was killed and a woman wounded in a South Side Washington Heights neighborhood drive-by shooting on the South Side.

The two were walking in the alley in the 9100 block of South Ashland about 1:20 a.m. when someone in a passing white van opened fire, police said.

Grover Tate, 47, of the 1500 block of West 95th Street, was shot in the head and pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.

The woman, 43, was shot in the abdomen and buttocks, and was taken to Christ Medical Center, where her condition had stabilized, police said.

A 26-year-old man was killed in the same block he lived in just after midnight Friday in the South Side Back of the Yards neighborhood.

The man, identified as Jose Hernandez, was sitting on a porch at 12:05 a.m. in the 4800 block of South Justine when another male walked up and shot him in the back, authorities said.

He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later, the medical examiner’s office said.

An officer at the scene said the shooting—the second on that block in about nine hours—may have stemmed from a conflict involving the La Raza street gang. Neighbors said they heard about four to six gunshots.

“We were all in the kitchen you know, having bonding, family time, and this happens,” said 15-year-old Jocelyn Avila, who lives on the block and also heard gunshots from the other shooting at 3 p.m. Thursday.

The first homicide of the weekend happened Thursday evening in the Little Village neighborhood on the Southwest Side.

At about 6:25 p.m., Joseph Gutierrez was riding a bicycle in the 2700 block of South Karlov when a gunman ran up and shot him repeatedly in the upper body, authorities said.

Gutierrez, of the 6200 block of South Kenneth, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 9:06 p.m., the medical examiner’s office said. Police said the shooting may have been gang-related.

Earlier in the week, Moses Van Pelt, 22, was shot in the Riverdale neighborhood on the Far South Side.

The shooting happened in the 13200 block of South Greenwood at 11:10 a.m. Thursday, police said.

Pelt, of the 0-100 block of Olympic Village in Chicago Heights, was sitting in a parked vehicle when a gray SUV pulled up with several people inside and at least one opened fire, police and the medical examiner’s office said. He was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died at 7:30 p.m., authorities said.

On Wednesday evening, a Humboldt Park man was shot and killed in a double shooting in North Lawndale, police said.

50-year-old Edgar Colon,of the 700 block of North Kedzie, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital and pronounced dead, authorities said.

At about 9:50 p.m., Colon and another man, 38, were standing on a sidewalk in the 3600 block of West 16th Street when two gunmen walked up and opened fire, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The other man took himself to Mount Sinai Hospital with a gunshot wound to the right leg, where his condition stabilized, police said.

Another killing was a domestic dispute involving a couple on Wednesday.

The victim, Vanessa Taylor, was found strangled in her West Garfield Park apartment after her alleged boyfriend posted on Facebook that he had killed her, police sources said.

Taylor was pronounced dead at the scene when officers were performing a well-being check in Taylor’s apartment in the 4300 block of West Flournoy Avenue, according to police and the medical examiner’s office.

An autopsy Wednesday found she died of asphyxiation and ligature strangulation, and her death was ruled a homicide, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Late Tuesday evening, Avery Williams was shot to death in the Morgan Park neighborhood on the Far South Side.

About 10:45 p.m., the 22-year-old Williams was driving in the 11100 block of South Hamlet when a black SUV pulled alongside and a gunman inside shot him the abdomen, according to police and the medical examiner office.

Williams died at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, authorities said. He lived in the 10400 block of South Church.

Angelica Escamilla was stabbed at about 3:30 p.m. Monday in the 2100 block of West Windsor, according to police.

A man armed with a knife attacked her, police said. Two other men, ages 19 and 21, were stabbed during the fight, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Police said Escamilla and two other men attacked a third man, who stabbed her in self-defense. The other two men are charged with the murder.

Escamilla, of the 4200 block of North Lincoln, was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 4:20 p.m., according to the medical examiner’s office.

The two men were each taken to hospitals. The 21-year-old was in fair condition, and the 19-year-old suffered non-life-threatening lacerations to his face, authorities said.

Earlier on Monday, Adrian Campos was stabbed to death in Logan Square after 3 a.m.

The 26-year-old Campos was stabbed in the chest during an argument with another man in the 1900 block of North Rockwell, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Campos, who lived on the same block where he was stabbed, was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 4:11 a.m., according to the medical examiner’s office.

A suspect is in custody, police said.

10 dead, 53 wounded in shootings over bloody Independence Day weekend

Jeff Mayes — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 11:09:51 -0500

The Fourth of July weekend turned into an explosion of violence across Chicago, where shootings left 10 people dead — including a 7-year-old boy — and at least 53 others injured from Thursday evening to early Monday.

Seven-year-old Amari Brown was killed in a shooting that also left a 26-year-old woman wounded late Saturday in the Humboldt Park neighborhood.

Amari, who lived in the 500 block of North Drake, was taken to Stroger Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 1:56 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Police said Sunday the bullet that fatally wounded 7-year-old Amari Brown on the Fourth of July was meant for his father. Both Amari and the 26-year-old woman were shot in the chest at 11:55 p.m. in the 1100 block of North Harding, police said.

The boy’s father, Antonio Brown, is a ranking gang member with 45 previous arrests and was not cooperating with police as of Sunday afternoon as they tried to find his son’s killer, Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said Sunday, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

“It’s crazy. Like who would shoot a 7-year-old? He got shot in the chest. Who would do that? To a baby?” Amari’s grandmother, 52-year-old Vida Hailey asked as she waited for news outside Stroger. “All the kids that are getting killed out here – it’s crazy. When is it going to stop?”

The woman who was shot was also taken to Stroger, where her condition stabilized.

In the most recent fatal shooting, a 48-year-old man was killed in a Sunday afternoon shooting in the Calumet Heights neighborhood.

Anthony Strong was shot in the right side of his chest about 4:55 p.m. in the 9200 block of South Harper, police said.

Strong, who lived in the same block he was shot, was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead at 6:06 p.m., the medical examiner’s office said.

Police said they were questioning a person of interest.

Earlier, two brothers from Missouri died Sunday morning after shots were fired at an SUV in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood on the South Side.

John Hunter, 25, and his 31-year-old brother Willie Hunter were sitting inside a Chevrolet SUV about 6:10 a.m. in the 8800 block of South Bishop, when another male walked up and opened fire, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The SUV — driven by the younger brother — sped away, but then crashed into a building in the 1600 block of West 89th, authorities said.

Willie Hunter, of the 1200 block of East High Street in Jefferson City, was discovered unresponsive in the vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.

Autopsies showed both men died from gunshot wounds.

Earlier Sunday, a man was killed in a shooting that left two others wounded in the Northwest Side Albany Park neighborhood.

Jeremy Spivey, 23, and the two others were sitting inside a van in an alley near Sunnyside and Kimball about 2:30 a.m. when a male walked up and fired shots, authorities said.

Spivey, of the 4700 block of West Belmont, was shot multiple times and taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 4:03 a.m., authorities said.

She took her family inside just five minutes before the shooting. She and her children said they heard about seven gunshots but didn’t think anything of it until they heard ambulances pull up.

A police source said all the victims are documented gang members.

About an hour and a half earlier, a 26-year-old man was shot to death in the South Shore neighborhood.

Dominic Fairley Jr. was sitting in his car in the 7700 block of South South Shore Drive about 1 a.m. when someone walked up and fired shots into the car, authorities said.

He was taken to South Shore Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:19 a.m. He lived in the 8500 block of South Hermitage, authorities said.

Police said the shooting is possibly gang-related.

A 17-year-old boy was shot to death Friday afternoon in a Bronzeville neighborhood park named after slain King College Prep student Hadiya Pendleton.

The teen — identified by authorities as Vonzell Banks of the 4500 block of South Prairie — and a 19-year-old man were standing outside Hadiya Pendleton Park in the 4300 block of South King about 4:45 p.m., when a vehicle approached and someone inside opened fire, police said.

Banks, a Dunbar Vocational High School junior, was playing basketball with his older brother, Vinny, and some friends when he was shot, his aunt, LaShanda Childs, told the Chicago Sun-Times.

“He was a loving child, getting ready to be a senior at high school,” Childs said. “He was going to start a summer job on Monday. He was very excited about it.”

Like Pendleton — in whose honor the park was renamed just two months ago — Banks was shot in the back. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:31 p.m., according to police and the medical examiner’s office.

The man was shot in the right foot and was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where his condition was stabilized.

Police said Banks and the 19-year-old were likely not the intended targets of the shooting.

Earlier Friday, a man was killed and a woman was wounded in a South Side Washington Heights neighborhood drive-by shooting on the South Side.

The two were walking in the alley in the 9100 block of South Ashland about 1:20 a.m. when someone in a passing white van opened fire, police said.

Grover Tate, 47, of the 1500 block of West 95th Street, was shot in the head and was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.

The woman, 43, was shot in the abdomen and buttocks and was taken to Christ Medical Center, where her condition had stabilized, police said.

A 26-year-old man was killed in the same block he lived in just after midnight Friday in the South Side Back of the Yards neighborhood.

The man, identified as Jose Hernandez, was sitting on a porch at 12:05 a.m. in the 4800 block of South Justine when another male walked up and shot him in the back, authorities said.

He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later, the medical examiner’s office said.

An officer at the scene said the shooting — the second on that block in about nine hours — may have stemmed from a conflict involving the La Raza street gang. Neighbors said they heard about four to six gunshots.

The weekend’s first homicide happened Thursday evening in the Little Village neighborhood on the Southwest Side.

About 6:25 p.m., Joseph Gutierrez was riding a bicycle in the 2700 block of South Karlov when a gunman ran up and shot him repeatedly in the upper body, authorities said.

On Saturday night, a man was shot in Streeterville shortly after the Navy Pier fireworks show.

The 19-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen at 10:06 p.m. in the 200 block of East Ohio, according to police and fire officials. He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in serious-to-critical condition, fire officials said.

A possible shooter was taken into custody and a weapon was recovered at the scene.

At least 47 others were injured in shootings dating back to 4:45 p.m. Thursday.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Anthony Strong fatally shot near his home in Calumet Heights

Jeff Mayes — Sun, 05 Jul 2015 21:17:33 -0500

Anthony Strong was killed in a Sunday afternoon shooting in the Calumet Heights neighborhood.

The 48-year-old Strong was shot in the right side of the chest about 4:55 p.m. in the 9200 block of South Harper, police said.

Strong, who lived on the same block where he was shot, was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead at 6:06 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Police said a “person of interest” is in custody.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire