Devonte Carthan | Homicide Watch Chicago

Friend: Slain teen Devonte Carthan 'wanted to get out of the neighborhood'

Michael Lansu — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 17:02:11 -0500

Devonte Carthan / Photo from Twitter

BY KALEY FOWLER
Homicide Watch Chicago

High school student Devonte Carthan always “made sure he got his grades right” and hoped to use college as a way out of the Altgeld Gardens community, a friend said.

“He wanted to get out of the neighborhood and experience life on his own,” said friend Amirius Clinton, 19. “He always brought up wanting to leave the neighborhood.”

Carthan, 17, won't get the chance as he was fatally shot late Aug. 12 while riding a bicycle in the 9200 block of South Dobson Avenue in the Burnside community, according to authorities.

Police said a silver car drove up and somebody inside opened fire. Carthan, of the 13200 block of South Langley Avenue, died at Advocate Trinity Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Carthan attended Harlan High School, where he was a point guard on the basketball team and hoped to attend Northeastern Illinois University, Clinton said.

“He saw that there were guys who came from where he came from and could make something of themselves and get something out of life other than violence, gangs and drugs,” Clinton said. “He saw there was another side of life that’s not what he sees every day in the neighborhood.”

Another friend, who is not being identified because she is a minor, described Carthan as an outgoing teen with a good sense of humor. Clinton added that Carthan was a kind-hearted teen who wanted the best for everybody.

“He would greet you with open arms, and he didn’t have anger against anybody,” Clinton said. “He was a young kid striving to be better and his life was stolen from him.”

As news of Carthan's death spread, friends took to social media to express their condolences:

Nobody has been charged for the murder. Area Central detectives are investigating if the shooting was gang related.

WEEK IN REVIEW: 11 killed throughout Chicago

Michael Lansu — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 10:27:07 -0500

BY MICHAEL LANSU
Homicide Watch Chicago Editor

Eleven people were shot to death in homicides throughout Chicago last week.

Seven of the killings happened over the weekend, when 29 other people were shot and wounded.

The most recent murders happened when 37-year-old James Sterling and 29-year-old Amy Holmes-Sterling were killed in what police are calling a domestic shooting in the 400 block of West 104th Street in Roseland about 9:55 p.m. Sunday, authorities said. A 26-year-old woman was also critically wounded.

Sterling, 37, who lived on the block, and Holmes-Sterling, 29, of the 300 block of East 53rd Street, each died at the scene, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

In the Humboldt Park community, 26-year-old Kardeon Glover was shot in the head on a sidewalk in the 900 block of North Karlov Avenue about 1:15 a.m. Sunday, authorities said.

Glover, of the 4100 block of West Grenshaw Avenue, died at Mount Sinai Hospital less than an hour later, according to the medical examiner’s office.

On Saturday, 21-year-old Damian Rodriguez and 16-year-old Jason Seballos were killed in a shooting in the 2300 block of North Springfield Avenue in the Logan Square community about 11:45 p.m. Saturday, authorities said. An 18-year-old man was also wounded in the shooting, police said.

Rodriguez, 21, of the 2300 block of South Keeler Avenue, was shot in the head and died at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, according to the medical examiner's office. Seballos, 16, of an unidentified home address, was shot in the face and back and also died at Illinois Masonic.

In the West Englewood neighborhood, 16-year-old Sharquise Buckner was shot during a drive-by shooting in the 7200 block of South Laflin Street about 12:50 a.m. Saturday, authorities said. A 20-year-old man was also wounded.

Buckner, of the 1400 block of West 72nd Street, was shot in the head and died at the scene, according to the medical examiner’s office.

On Friday, 25-year-old Walter Neely was shot in the abdomen in the 3400 block of South Indiana Avenue about 11:35 p.m., authorities said. The shooting happened about a block from Chicago Police Headquarters.

Neely, of an unidentified home address, died at Northwestern Memorial Hospital less than 30 minutes later, according to the medical examiner's office.

On Thursday, 23-year-old LaDarryl Walters was shot in the head and chest in the 7600 block of South Coles Avenue in the South Shore community about 9:20 p.m., authorities said.

Walters, of the 0-100 block of West 110th Place, died a short time later at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, according to the medical examiner's office.

On Tuesday, 17-year-old Devonte Carthan was shot while riding his bicycle in the in the 9200 block of South Dobson Avenue in the Burnside neighborhood about 11:30 p.m., authorities said.

Carthan, of the 13200 block of South Langley Avenue, died at Advocate Trinity Hospital, according to the medical examiner's office.

In the West Pullman community, 30-year-old Julio Perkins was shot outside his home in the 11600 block of South Stewart Avenue about 2 a.m. Tuesday, authorities said. Perkins died less than an hour later at Christ Medical Center, according to the examiner’s office.

The killings started when 26-year-old Dearies Arnold was wounded in a drive-by shooting in the 7100 block of South Green Street about 7 p.m. Monday, authorities said.

Arnold, of the 7100 block of South Champlain Avenue, was shot multiple times and died less than an hour later at Christ Medical Center, authorities said.

Nobody has been charged for any of the murders.

Overall, the medical examiner’s office has ruled at least 254 Chicago deaths in 2014 a homicide — including nine 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.

Devonte Carthan, 17, fatally shot in Burnside

Michael Lansu — Wed, 13 Aug 2014 12:30:04 -0500

Devonte Carthan was shot to death in the Burnside neighborhood Tuesday night.

Carthan, 17, was riding a bicycle in the in the 9200 block of South Dobson Avenue when a silver car drove up and someone inside opened fire about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, authorities said.

An acquaintance drove Carthan, of the 13200 block of South Langley Avenue, to Advocate Trinity Hospital, where he later died, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Nobody has been charged for the murder.

Area South detectives are investigating if the shooting is gang related.