Derrick Bowens | Homicide Watch Chicago

Comment of the Day: "The coolest person I ever met"

Michael Lansu — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 16:12:43 -0500

Derrick Bowens was fatally shot June 5 outside his Englewood home. Reader "Eddoe" posted this about him:

R.I.P DB one of the coolest person I ever met and would put it on you the court.

Family: Derrick Bowens wanted to be standup comedian

Michael Lansu — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 16:57:12 -0500

Derrick Bowens / Photo from Facebook

BY SUSAN DU
Homicide Watch Chicago

Derrick Bowens was supposed to attend his son's graduation.

Bowens, 33, was fatally shot about 9:50 a.m. June 5 outside his home in the 7000 block of South Morgan Street, authorities said.

Police said Bowens was standing outside when a black car pulled up and a passenger in the rear seat opened fire — striking him in the abdomen. Bowens had just left the house to get breakfast before a job interview when he was shot while talking with a friend.

After nine hours of surgery, the father of seven died at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, family said.

Bowens grew up in the Hilliard Homes public housing complex and later moved to the Englewood neighborhood, family said. Court records indicate he pleaded guilty to drug charges in 1999, 2006 and 2010. He received his GED from Kennedy-King College and worked odd jobs in home remodeling, family said.

"Derrick meant the world to me," his mother, Debra Bowens said. "He was a good child. He helped you. He would do anything for you. He was a good father to his children, the ones that was around him. And he was a good man."

But what set him apart him from his seven siblings and numerous cousins was his deep sense of humor, his mother and dreamed of being a standup comedian, family said.

Miesha Bowens, a cousin who considered Derrick Bowens to be more like a big brother, said a lot of humor went out of her life with his death.

"He was honestly everybody favorite. From the time you met up with him to the time you left, you would be crying, laughing all day," she said.

Days following the murder, Miesha Bowens said she couldn't sleep, but she could laugh about the last time Derrick Bowens poked fun at a little cousin by incessantly tickling his ear while he slept.

Derrick Bowens loved to spend time with his family, Miesha Bowens said. He cooked, he cut hair, drank and joked at home. He talked about going into nursing just because he liked helping people.

Juanita Spencer, the mother of one of Derrick Bowen's daughters, said she first struck up a conversation with him on the same street where he was killed. She said it was his tender and caring nature that hooked her.

"You felt his hugs, his warmth, that big old bright smile," Spencer said. "He was always cracking jokes, like he used to tell me, 'Get away from me, you just a drunk,' but he's always want to be around me anyway."

Spencer and her daughter had moved to Minnesota, and though Derrick Bowens hadn't seen the pair in years, he spoke to his daughter regularly on the phone. In the days preceding his death, they were planning a summer break reunion.

Spencer read a poem by her daughter during Derrick Bowens' funeral:

"I remember you told me you loved me and you couldn't wait to see me. I miss you a lot and I really wish I could have gotten to know you better. Although things happened the way they did, I never questioned your love for me. You were great Dad, and I loved you Dad."

Nobody has been charged for the murder. Area Central detectives are investigating.

WEEK IN REVIEW: Seven shot dead throughout Chicago

Michael Lansu — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 09:00:23 -0500

BY MICHAEL LANSU
Homicide Watch Chicago Editor

At least seven people were murdered throughout Chicago last week -- the city's lowest homicide total in three weeks.

All seven people were killed by gunfire. The deceased were six men and a woman.

The seven killings are the lowest weekly total since five people were killed May 12-18, according to Homicide Watch Chicago data. The next two weeks had 11 and 14 homicides.

The most recent murder happened when 36-year-old Kennyone Pendelton was shot in the chest multiple times in the 4600 block of West Jackson Boulevard about 9:25 p.m. Saturday, authorities said. Pendelton, of the 1100 block of North Lawler Avenue, died at the scene, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

In the Washington Park neighborhood, 18-year-old Brian Weekly was shot multiple times in an alley in the 5600 block of South Wabash Avenue about 1:30 a.m. Saturday, authorities said. A 20-year-old man was also wounded but survived.

Weekly, of the 1400 block of West 79th Street, died at the scene, according to the examiner’s office.

On Friday, 22-year-old Carnesha Fort was shot in the 100 block of North Keeler Avenue about 10:45 p.m., authorities said. Fort, who lived on the block, died at Mount Sinai Hospital less than an hour later, according to the medical examiner’s office.

In Rogers Park, 18-year-old Alante Vallejo was shot in the 1900 block of West Howard Street about 1:45 p.m. Friday, authorities said. A 20-year-old man was also wounded but survived.

Vallejo, of the 200 block of Ridge Avenue in Evanston, died less than an hour later at Presence Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston.

Friend Jodeci Johnson said Vallejo had recently graduated from Evanston Township High School and was "planning his future."

On Thursday, 27-year-old Derrick Bowens was standing outside his home in the 7000 block of South Morgan Street when when a black car pulled up and a passenger in the rear seat shot him in the abdomen about 9:50 a.m., authorities said.

Bowens died at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn hours later, according to the medical examiner’s office.

On Wednesday, 18-year-old Ronald Holliman was shot in the 4900 block of West West End Avenue about 5 p.m., authorities said. Two other men were wounded but survived.

Holliman, of the 5200 block of West Race Avenue, died at Mount Sinai Hospital, according to the medical examiner's office.

On Tuesday, Jerome Lofton fatally shot 21-year-old Darrien Jordan during an argument in the 3900 block of West Grenshaw Street, prosecutors said. Lofton, 32, of the 3700 block of West Polk Street, allegedly grabbed a gun from a vehicle and shot Jordan in the chest about 1:30 p.m.

Jordan, 21, who lived on the block, died hours later at Mount Sinai Hospital, according to the medical examiner's office.

Additionally, 25-year-old David M. Hernandez, of the 6000 block of South Lorel Avenue, died Monday from wounds suffered in a drive-by Sunday evening shooting in the 900 block of West 32nd Street in the Bridgeport neighborhood, authorities said.

Overall, the medical examiner’s office has ruled at least 165 Chicago deaths in 2014 a homicide — including seven people killed by police.

Additionally, the state’s attorney’s office filed first-degree murder charges against a speeding motorist who killed an off-duty police officer while trying to flee police even though the autopsy ruled the death an accident.

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

Derrick Bowens fatally shot outside Englewood home

Michael Lansu — Fri, 06 Jun 2014 17:02:28 -0500

Derrick Bowens was fatally shot Thursday morning outside his Englewood home.

Bowens, 27, was shot about 9:50 a.m. Thursday in the 7000 block of South Morgan Street, authorities said.

He was standing outside his home when a black car pulled up and a passenger in the rear seat opened fire -- striking him in the abdomen, police said.

Bowens died at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn where at 7:04 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

The vehicle sped off after the shooting and nobody is in custody for the murder, police said.

Area Central detectives are investigating.