Devon Davis | Homicide Watch Chicago

Rev. Plefeger not impressed with Chief Keef's planned benefit concert, tell rapper to 'shut up'

Jeff Mayes — Tue, 14 Jul 2015 10:53:37 -0500

Chief Keef (left) and the Rev. Michael Pfleger

By MITCH DUDEK and STEFANO ESPOSITO
Chicago Sun-Times

Forget the concert. Send a check instead.

That’s Father Michael Pfleger’s response to rapper Chief Keef’s plan to hold a concert in memory of a rapper friend slain in gun violence over the weekend, as well as a toddler who died in the aftermath.

Earlier Monday, Pfleger had an even more blunt message for the rapper on his Facebook page: “SHUT UP!!!!!”

“Chief Keef has announced that he will hold a benefit concert to raise funds for his friend and the Baby who were killed this past weekend….REALLY…Chief Keef is one of the reasons we have all this violence…he has been one of the encourager’s of the Violence,” wrote the outspoken pastor who has taken to the pulpit and the streets to fight gun violence.

“Instead of having a concert…why doesn’t he Man Up and acknowledge it’s time to stop this violence and Apologize for his part in it!!!! we don’t need a concert…we need PEACE……7 DEAD and 24 SHOT this weekend and he wants to do a concert…..Chief Keef….SHUT UP!!!!!” the post ends.

Within five hours of the post being put up on Facebook, it had more than 400 likes.

Later Monday, Pfleger branded Keef a hypocrite for this week announcing the formation of a new anti-violence foundation, while embracing violence through his music.

“That’s great, but unless you are going to say, I’m going to stop making music that glorifies violence, then you are hypocritical,” Pfleger told the Chicago Sun-Times. “What are you going to do at the concert? Your music is promoting and glorifying [violence]. Just send a check.”

Pfleger said the rapper could be a “very strong voice for peace. But the question is, does he have the courage to be the voice for peace?”

Keef announced over the weekend he would have the free concert this Friday night but can’t appear in person — because of a warrant connected to his failure to pay child support. Records show he owes $14,613.

So the rapper will appear via hologram from the West Coast during a concert on the back of a flatbed truck that will be parked in a warehouse or parking lot somewhere in Chicago.

Keef, whose real name is Keith Cozart, decided to put on the show after hearing about the South Side shooting and car chase on the that led to the deaths of his friend Marvin Carr, known as rapper Capo, and 13-month-old Dillan Harris, who was fatally struck by a car being chased by police after Carr’s shooting.

On Monday, police charged Antoine Watkins, 21, of the 8100 block of South Bennett, with murder in the toddler’s death. Watkins appeared in court Monday, where he was ordered held without bond and a woman yelled at him from the gallery: “You killed my baby!”

Keef was moved by the deaths and “wants to speak out against all the violence,” said Owen Phillips, a spokesman for Alki David, the Greek billionaire owner of HologramUSA and FilmOn, who recently signed the rapper and is orchestrating the show. “It’s something new in Keef’s music that he’s trying to express.”

Phillips said the truck with the technology to project Chief Keef’s hologram is currently being driven to Chicago from California.

He will perform on a Beverly Hills stage owned by HologramUSA, Phillips said. The rapper recently signed a two-album deal with David’s FilmOn, an online television streaming company.

Phillips said Chief Keef can’t physically be in Chicago to perform because his legal team is addressing an outstanding warrant.

The warrant against Chief Keef, who grew up in Englewood and has a history of gun and drug charge, stems from allegations that he hasn’t paid child support, according to a spokeswoman for the Cook Country Sheriff’s Department. The warrant does not allow the rapper to be extradited to Illinois from California. It’s enforceable only in Illinois, she said.

Money collected at the concert will be donated to Chicago charities and the victims’ families. Keef and FilmOn’s owner will match the money that’s raised.

Phillips also announced Keef’s new anti-violence foundation, Stop The Violence Now, but could provide no details.

—Chicago SUn-Times and Chicago Sun-Times Wire

WEEK IN REVIEW: Nine people killed in Chicago violence last week

Jeff Mayes — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 11:56:38 -0500

By JARED LANDSMAN and TRISTAN SIMS
Homicide Watch Chicago

At least nine people were killed in Chicago last week, all of them fatally shot.

Shootings since Friday night alone left three men dead and at least 18 other people wounded, according to Chicago Police.

The latest killing happened Sunday afternoon in the Roseland neighborhood on the Far South Side, police said.

22-year-old Martell Smith was walking in the 9900 block of South State Street at 2:10 p.m. when a vehicle drove up, and someone inside fired shots, police said.

Smith, who lived on the same block, was shot in the head and pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Police are investigating whether the shooting was gang-related.

Saturday evening, a 21-year-old man was shot to death near his home in the South Side Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood.

Eric Turner was standing outside near a home in the 7300 block of South Dorchester at 7 p.m. when someone walked out of a gangway and fired shots before running off, according to police and the medical examiner’s office.

Turner, who lived on the same block, was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he died at 7:43 p.m., according to the medical examiner’s office.

A 32-year-old man was shot and killed early Saturday in a Back of the Yards neighborhood drive-by.

About 3:40 a.m., Joaquin Rocha was a passenger in a car in the 4500 block of South Hermitage when an SUV pulled alongside and someone inside opened fire, striking him in the torso, police and the medical examiner’s office said.

Rocha, of the 4700 block of South Springfield, was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was later pronounced dead, authorities said.

An hour earlier in the Southwest Side Gage Park neighborhood, 21-year-old Joseph Rivera was shot while sitting in his car at a stop light. He died about 12 hours later.

Rivera stopped his car at a light about 2:25 a.m. in the 2500 block of West 51st Street when an SUV pulled up and someone inside started yelling gang slogans and firing a gun, according to police and the medical examiner’s office.

Rivera, of the 5800 block of South Tripp, was shot in the head and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died at 2:20 p.m. Saturday.

On Thursday afternoon at a car wash in the Edgewater neighborhood, 21-year-old Devone Matthews was fatally shot at his work establishment.

At about 4:45 p.m., an unknown person entered the business, where Matthews worked, in the 5900 block of North Ridge, pulled a handgun and fired several shot at Matthews, police said.

The 21-year-old, who lived in the 6100 block of North Damen Avenue, was shot in the back and taken to Presence Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston, where he was pronounced dead at 5:25 p.m., according to police and the medical examiner’s office.

Detectives are investigating whether the shooting was gang-related.

20-year-old Negeal Smith was shot and killed about 12:05 a.m. Thursday in the North Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side.

Smith, of the 3600 block of West Douglas Boulevard, was sitting in the backseat of a vehicle in the 1400 block of South Lawndale at 12:05 a.m. when a gunman walked up and fired shots, according to police and the medical examiner’s office.

Smith, who was shot in the head, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, authorities said.

52-year-old Christon Barlow was shot and died at Northwestern Memorial Hospital on Tuesday evening, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Barlow lived in a Bronzeville nursing home, where he was popular among the staff and fellow residents, and worked as a driver for other residents and often would run errands for the staff, according to his sister.

Tuesday night, Barlow was out picking up a few things for other residents when he was shot and killed.

He was one of four shot near the intersection of 35th and Indiana—a block south of the nursing home—about 8:30 p.m., according to police. He was pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital about a half hour later. He was the lone fatality. Two men, ages 18 and 20, and a 20-year-old woman were also shot.

34-year-old Lucille Barnes was killed in the Gresham neighborhood late Tuesday on the South Side.

Barnes, 34, was shot in the abdomen and taken to Stroger Hospital, where she died at 12:49 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

21-year-old Devon Davis was shot and killed in a shooting Tuesday afternoon in the Great Grand Crossing neighborhood on the South Side, police said.

Davis was shot multiple times and pronounced dead at the scene. Police are investigating if the shooting might have been a drive-by attack.

Devon Davis fatally shot in Greater Grand Crossing

Jeff Mayes — Wed, 24 Jun 2015 09:31:44 -0500

Devon Davis was killed in a shooting Tuesday afternoon in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood on the South Side, police said.

The shooting happened in the 7500 block of South Ellis at 2:05 p.m., police said.

The victim was shot multiple times and pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Davis, 21, lived in the 7500 block of South Indiana, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The shooting might have been a drive-by attack, police said.

Police are investigating whether the shooting was gang-related.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire