Devin Common | Homicide Watch Chicago

49 years for man who killed Devin Common, wounded 2 others, in 2013 shooting in Greater Grand Crossing

Jeff Mayes — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 12:44:30 -0600

By JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Quovadus Mahomes |Illinois Dept. of Corrections

A north central Illinois man has been sentenced to 49 years in prison for killing Devin Common and wounding two other men in a shooting in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood on the South Side in 2013.

Quovadus Mahomes, now 21, of Dixon was found guilty Sept. 13 of one count of murder, two counts of aggravated battery with discharge of a firearm, and one count of aggravated discharge of a firearm at an occupied vehicle after a bench trial before Judge James Linn, according to Cook County court records.

Mahomes, who was 17 at the time, was arrested minutes after he gunned down the 27-year-old Common and wounded the others as they walked in the 7400 block of South Champlain on Jan. 29, 2013, authorities said at the time.

Devin Common | photo provided

Common suffered two gunshot wounds to the neck and one to the chest, authorities said. The other men, ages 27 and 30, suffered gunshot wounds to the leg and shoulder.

Judge Linn sentenced Mahomes to a total of 49 years in prison Thursday, according to court records. He got 30 years for the murder, seven years for each aggravated battery charge, and five years for the firearm charge.

Mahomes has already begun serving his sentence at the Stateville Correctional Center, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections. He will receive credit for 1,444 days served in the Cook County Jail.

Dixon teen held without bail in fatal shooting

John Carpenter — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 13:52:25 -0600

Sun-Times Media Wire; January 31, 2013 1:52PM

A Dixon teenager was ordered held without bail Thursday for allegedly murdering a 27-year-old man and wounding two others on the South Side earlier this week.

Quovadus Mahomes, 17, was arrested just minutes after he gunned down Devin Common and injured the men Common was walking with Tuesday afternoon in the 7400 block of South Champlain Avenue, Cook County prosecutors said.

A .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun was recovered and Mahomes was identified by a witness and one of the victims, assistant state’s attorney Jamie Santini said. After Mahomes was arrested and told he would be undergoing a gunshot residue test, a camera allegedly caught a handcuffed Mahomes in a police interrogation room removing his pants and urinating on his hands and clothing and then wiping his hands on his urine-stained clothes in an attempt to contaminate the results.

But Mahomes’ lawyer said in his 20 years of practice in criminal law, he’s never heard of such a strategy to manipulate tests and doubted such a young man would know either.

“He had to pee,” defense attorney Jeffrey Granich shrugged to reporters following Thursday’s court hearing.

Common was the second son in his family to die a violent death.

Last summer, his younger brother Antonio Common, 23, was killed in a fatal shooting in an alley near the corner store at East 75th Street and South Langley Avenue.

“I couldn’t believe it was happening all over again,” their mother, Kimberly Common, told the Sun-Times earlier this week.

Devin Common had told his mother he was going to a nearby South Side store before he was shot Tuesday afternoon.

As Devin Common and two others walked on the street Tuesday, Mahomes, who was wearing a blue and red hooded sweatshirt, strolled a half block ahead of them, authorities said.

Soon after, a witness walked by and started talking to Devin Common and his friends.

That’s when Mahomes allegedly pointed a gun and fired.

Devin Common suffered two gunshot wounds to his neck and one to his chest, Santini said.

The two other men, ages 27 and 30, suffered gunshot wounds to the legs and shoulder. The witness, who was not injured, alerted police about the shooting, telling them a robbery may have occurred, according to a police report. The witness chased Mahomes as he ran away with the weapon, Santini said.

The gun was recovered near the murder scene without any bullets inside, Santini said. Eight .45-caliber shell casings were also inventoried, Santini said.

Mahomes has a 2011 burglary conviction.

Man, 27, killed. Second son in his family murdered.

John Carpenter — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 14:05:23 -0600

Chicago Sun-Times (IL) - Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Author/Byline: BY MAUDLYNE IHEJIRIKA ; Staff Reporter

When Kimberly Common said goodbye to her oldest son as he left their home Tuesday in the 7300 block of South Champlain, she never suspected history would repeat.
Her son, Devin Common, 27, was headed for the corner store two blocks away.

“He said he’d be right back,” the 45-year-old mother of four said.

The next thing she knew, a neighbor was banging at her door, telling her he had been killed a block away. He had been shot, along with two friends, his body lying on the sidewalk in the 7400 block of South Champlain in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood.

Life had played out the same way on Oct. 13, 2011, the day her other son, Antonio Common, 23, left their home in the evening headed for the same store.

“Antonio had said, ‘I’ll be right back, Mama.’ A few hours later, I got the call that they’d found my son in the alley, shot 17 times. It happened again,” the mother said, her memory triggering a torrent of tears.

Police said her son was shot at 12:12 p.m. Tuesday; the two other victims were taken to area hospitals with minor injuries.

Kimberly Common said her son was the father of five children, ages 1 to 9, who was attending a trade school for a career in HVAC technology.

Upon arriving at the scene, his girlfriend, Nikki Trice, mother of his two youngest children, fell to the ground wailing, unable to be comforted.

His sister, Jermaka Common, 26, stifled her own tears to comfort her mother.

“It’s not fair. It’s not fair,” the sister cried. “They took both my brothers.”

The mother said she had heard the motive was robbery, but police declined to comment.

“After Antonio was killed, I turned my life over to the Lord, went to church every Sunday, dragged my grandkids, just praying to God to save my family,” Kimberly Common said. “God, why is this happening to me again? To me again?”