Emmanuel C. Stokes | Homicide Watch Chicago

WEEK IN REVIEW: It started calmly but exploded in wave of South Shore violence, and ended with 18 people dead

Jeff Mayes — Thu, 06 Apr 2017 12:58:15 -0500

By JEFF MAYES
Homicide Watch Chicago

A week that started out with about four full days without a homicide suddenly exploded into a bloodbath when four shootings left eight people dead in a matter of 24 hours in the South Shore neighborhood, and by the time it ended, 18 lives were lost to violence in Chicago last week.

After nearly four days of from early Sunday morning until Wednesday night, a man shot to death in the South Shore neighborhood. Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner's office said 37-year-old Jerry Jacobs was walking on the sidewalk at 11:13 p.m. March 29 in the 7900 block of South Phillips when four males got out of a dark-colored vehicle and shot at him.

Jacobs, who lived in the same neighborhood, suffered a gunshot wound to the right side of his body and took himself to South Shore Hospital. He was later transferred to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:40 a.m. Thursday, March 31.

And that was just the start, according to Cook County prosecutors, who claim that Jacobs’ son, 19-year-old Maurice Harris, fatally shot four people at the Nadia Fish and Chicken restaurant at 75th and Coles in retaliation for his father's death. Charged on Wednesday with four counts of murder, Harris was ordered held without bond.

The four people were killed about 3:30 p.m., when shooter walked into the diner and opened fire, according to family members of the victims. Two men were fatally shot inside the restaurant. They were identified as 28-year-old Emmanuel C. Stokes, and 32-year-old Edwin Davis.

Two other men, brothers Dillon and Raheam Jackson, ran from the restaurant as gunfire erupted, but both were fatally shot in different parking lots within a block of the restaurant. They had been going to visit their mother, who worked at the restaurant.

All four were pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Police also believe two other deaths, a man and a woman shot to death Thursday night in South Shore may also be related, all part of a gang war in the South Side community. Just after 11 p.m., 27-year-old Cornell M. Patrick and 23-year-old Dominique Victoria Scott were riding in a gray van southbound on South Shore Drive when a black Jeep pulled alongside near 70th Street, according to police and the medical examiner's office.

A shooter in the Jeep opened fire, hitting Scott in the side of the head as she sat in the front passenger seat. Patrick was shot in the side of his body in the backseat. The van crashed into a pole at 71st Street. Patrick, of the South Deering neighborhood; and Scott, of Gary, Indiana, were dead at the scene, according to the medical examiner's office.

Just before the restaurant massacre, a pregnant woman was found shot to death Thursday afternoon in an apartment in South Shore, but police believe that was an isolated incident. Shortly after noon, Patrice L. Calvin, a 26-year-old woman who was four months pregnant, was found unresponsive with a gunshot wound to the head in an apartment in the 7500 block of South Luella, authorities said. She was dead at the scene.

the week's final homicides happened Sunday afternoon, when two men were killed and four others wounded in a shooting in the East Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side. At 4:33 p.m., the men were standing in a group in the 3500 block of West Van Buren when a white, four-door car pulled up and multiple people got out and started shooting, according to police.
Two of the men, 23-year-old Deonta Turner and 27-year-old Lemont Davis, were shot in the chest, and were taken to Stroger Hospital, where they were pronounced dead just after 5 p.m., according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Autopsies Monday found Turner, of Uptown, died of a gunshot wound to the back; and Davis, of west suburban Oak Park, died of multiple gunshot wounds.

An 18-year-old man was shot in the chest; a 23-year-old man was shot in the back; and a 24-year-old man was shot in the chest, back and leg, police said. They were all taken in critical condition to Stroger Hospital. The sixth man, 26, suffered a gunshot wound to the right leg and was taken in good condition to Mount Sinai Hospital.
One man was killed and another critically wounded in a shooting earlier Sunday afternoon in the South Side Auburn Gresham neighborhood. Courtney Lewis, 20, was with three other people about 12:30 p.m. inside a car in the 8200 block of South Ada when shots rang out and their vehicle sped away from the scene, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Two passengers in the car realized they’d been shot and the driver stopped in the 8400 block of South Aberdeen, police said.
Lewis was shot twice in the back and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead at 1:15 p.m., the medical examiner’s office said. He lived in the same neighborhood as the shooting. A 19-year-old man suffered one gunshot wound to the back and was also taken to Christ Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition, police said.
A 62-year-old man was found stabbed to death early Sunday in the Gresham neighborhood on the South Side. Robert L. Cox was found about 12:40 a.m. lying facedown in an alley in the 8500 block of South Peoria. He had suffered stab wounds to the head and neck, according to police and the medical examiner's office. Cox, a U.S. Army veteran who lived in the West Town neighborhood, was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy Sunday found he died of multiple sharp force injuries, and his death was ruled a homicide.
A 23-year-old man was shot to death late Saturday in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side. About 11:40 p.m., Pier Charvell Minor was sitting in a parked vehicle in the 5200 block of West Chicago. Two males walked up and shot him in the head and chest before running away, according to police and the medical examiner's office. Minor, who lived in the same neighborhood, was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital.
A 34-year-old man was shot to death early Saturday during an attempted burglary at his West Pullman neighborhood home on the Far South Side. At 6:22 a.m., officers responded to a reported burglary in the 11700 block of South Normal and found Terry D. Torrence in the doorway of his home, according to police and the medical examiner's office. Torrence had been shot in the head and buttocks, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
A 21-year-old man was fatally shot Friday evening in the South Chicago neighborhood. Officers responding to a call of a person shot just before 5 p.m. found Timothy Shannon unresponsive with a gunshot wound to his back in the 8700 block of South Saginaw Avenue, according to police and the medical examiner's office. Shannon, of the South Side Woodlawn neighborhood, was pronounced dead at the scene.
A 23-year-old west suburban man shot Wednesday night in Austin died a day later. Romille McCall of Cicero was in a vehicle at 6:37 p.m. in the 5100 block of West Chicago Avenue when he was shot in the back and arm, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. McCall took himself to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, where his condition was stabilized, authorities said. He was later transferred to Stroger Hospital, where he died at 2:25 p.m. Thursday.
A 16-year-old boy died nine hours after he was shot Wednesday in the Roseland neighborhood on the Far South Side. Darmayah Smith was walking at 6:23 p.m. in the 11000 block of South Edbrooke when someone approached him on foot and opened fire, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. He suffered gunshot wounds to the torso and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. Smith, who lived three blocks away from where he was shot, was pronounced dead at 3:58 a.m. Thursday.
Another man died more than a week after he was wounded in a shooting in Englewood. Donald White, 29, was pronounced dead at 3:20 a.m. Friday at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn from complications of multiple gunshot wounds, the medical examiner’s office said. White was one of two men shot about 3:20 p.m. Tuesday, March 21, in the 1700 block of West 72nd Street, according to police. The other man, 28, was shot in the abdomen and was also taken to Christ, where he was initially listed in fair condition, police said.

Prosecutors: Killing of four people at South Shore restaurant was revenge for murder of suspect's father

Jeff Mayes — Thu, 06 Apr 2017 10:13:41 -0500

By SAM CHARLES, ANDY GRIMM and MITCHELL ARMENTROUT
Chicago Sun-Times

Maurice Harris | Chicago Police

Maurice Harris’ father — 37-year-old Jerry Jacobs, who had nearly four dozen arrests, including two for murder — was gunned down on a sidewalk in the South Shore neighborhood around 11:15 p.m. March 29.

The next day, his son appears to have been out for revenge, police say.

Around 3:30 p.m. March 30, the 19-year-old Harris fatally shot four men at a restaurant within a mile of where his father’s blood was spilled, according to police.

Police said Wednesday the shootings are the product of an ongoing gang war and that “a reasonable person would believe” they are connected. They also said that a double homicide in South Shore later on March 30 might be related to the restaurant killings.

If so, it would be a staggering series of events: 24 hours, three shootings, seven dead, one gang war.

Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson discusses the slaying of four people in South Shore. The man charged in that shooting lost his own father to a fatal shooting the day before, police said. | Sam Charles/Sun-Times

And, so far, one arrest: Harris, who was ordered held without bond Wednesday after being charged with four counts of first-degree murder in connection with the quadruple murder at Nadia Fish and Chicken, near 75th and Coles.

Brendan Deenihan, commander of Area Central detectives, said Jacobs was fatally shot in the 7900 block of South Phillips on March 29. He was on the sidewalk when four males got out of a dark-colored van and opened fire, police said at the time.

“I think a reasonable motive would be that his father got killed and subsequently he shoots and kills these four people,” Deenihan said. “Does he do that randomly? Only he can answer that question. I wouldn’t suspect he just picked four random people on the street. That wouldn’t make sense to me.”

Jerry Jacobs | Facebook

Harris has not given a confession and was arrested Tuesday near 127th and Western, said Deenihan, who added that several eyewitnesses told police Harris was the only shooter.

The shooting was part of an ongoing conflict between factions of the Gangster Disciples and Black P Stones gangs, Deenihan said. Prosecutors said Wednesday that Harris is a documented member of the No Limit faction of the Black P Stones.

Deenihan said it was not known if any of the four killed at the restaurant were involved in Jacobs’ death. He said Jacobs had been arrested 47 times, including twice in murder cases.

The quadruple homicide — the first in Chicago in 2017 — occurred on a particularly violent day in South Shore when seven people were fatally shot within a mile of each other in a 12-hour span.

Dillon Jackson | family photo

Two of those victims, a 27-year-old man and 23-year-old woman, were shot to death around 11 p.m. as they were traveling in a van near 70th and South Shore Drive. A black Jeep pulled alongside them and someone inside the Jeep opened fire, police said.

Deenihan said that the double homicide and quadruple homicide “may be related,” but there was no indication that those cases were connected to the other fatal shooting in South Shore on March 30. That shooting took the life of 26-year-old Patrice L. Calvin, who was four months pregnant. She was found fatally shot in the head around noon in the 7500 block of South Luella.

About 3:30 p.m., the four men were fatally shot at the restaurant, two inside and two outside. They were identified as: Emmanuel C. Stokes, 28; Edwin Davis, 32, and brothers Dillon Jackson, 20, and Raheam Jackson, 19.

The Jackson brothers had gone to Nadia Fish and Chicken to visit their mother, who has worked at the restaurant for eight years, according to their grandmother, Georgia Jackson, who also said her 16-year-old grandson was fatally shot at an Englewood Church’s Chicken in 2011.

Raheam Jackson | family photo

At Harris’ court hearing Wednesday, his lawyer, Ian Barney, asked Judge Adam Bourgeois to grant Harris’ request for bond so the teen could attend his father’s funeral this week.

Judge Adam Bourgeois ordered Harris held without bond, noting the teen had notched 29 juvenile arrests.

Assistant State’s Attorney Jaime Santini said witnesses saw Harris follow Stokes and Davis into the restaurant with a semi-automatic handgun. After gunning down the two men inside, Harris ran out of the restaurant. Witnesses then heard more gunshots from outside.

Emmanuel Stokes | Facebook

Barney said that there was no video and he expected to present witnesses who could prove Harris was with them at the time of the murders.

“There is perhaps more to this story than has been told,” Barney said.

Brothers Dillon and Raheam Jackson, Emmanuel Stokes, Edwin Davis killed when gunman opens fire in restaurant

Jeff Mayes — Mon, 03 Apr 2017 13:52:11 -0500

By SAM CHARLES, MITCHELL ARMENTROUT, JACOB WITTICH, TOM SCHUBA and FRAN SPIELMAN
Chicago Sun-Times

Dana Jackson mourns for her sons Dillon, 20, and Raheam,19, who were shot to death with two others at Nadia Fish and Chicken at 75th and Coles Thursday afternoon, March 30, 2017. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Four people were killed in when gunfire erupted inside a restaurant in the South Shore neighborhood on Thursday afternoon.

About 3:30 p.m., a shooter walked into Nadia Fish and Chicken at the corner of 75th and Coles, and opened fire, according to family members of the victims.

Two men, Emmanuel C. Stokes, 28; and Edwin Davis, 32, were fatally shot inside the restaurant, authorities said.

Two other men, brothers Dillon Jackson, 20; and Raheam Jackson, 19, ran from the restaurant as gunfire erupted, but both were fatally shot in different parking lots within a block of the restaurant.

All four were pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

On Thursday night, CPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tweeted the shooting is “believed to be gang-related retaliation from another incident,” though he did not offer further specifics of the other incident.

The Jackson brothers had gone to the restaurant to visit their mother, who has worked there for eight years, according to their grandmother, Georgia Jackson.

“They were shooting at somebody, they say, inside the restaurant,” she said. “My boys just got in the way, I guess.”

The shootings came at the end of a month, which at the start of the day had seen a 43 percent drop in homicides year-over-year, according to Chicago Police. March 2016 saw 46 homicides, while March 2017 had recorded 26 before Thursday, when a total of 7 were reported.

Dozens of onlookers gathered at the corner of 75th and Coles as police guarded the crime scene, which spanned several blocks. The bodies of the Jackson brothers could be seen lying under white sheets, much to the frustration of family members.

A young woman screamed at officers to move the bodies of Raheam and Dillon—who she said were her brothers—out of the lightly misting rain.

Dillon Jackson | family photo

“Real talk, this is gonna make me go f–––––– crazy,” she said. “Why they still on the ground?”

Hours after the shooting, when most bystanders had left the crime scene area, Georgia Jackson vowed to stay until her grandsons’ bodies were removed.

Agents from the ATF were at the crime scene, and a spokesman confirmed the federal agency is assisting Chicago Police in the investigation.

Georgia Jackson said Dillon Jackson was shot in his back three years ago, just a block away.

“Dillon was a homebody,” she said. “I don’t understand why he out here. What’s he doing here?”

Family members said Dillon and Raheam were the youngest of five children. They had two older brothers and an older sister.

Raheam Jackson | family photo

Raheam left behind a son, who will turn 2 years old on April 2, and another 5-month old son, according to his sister-in-law, Shauna Jackson.

Dillon and Raheam Jackson were not the first grandsons Georgia Jackson has lost to gun violence in Chicago.

In December 2011, her 16-year-old grandson Jawan Ross, a Robeson High School student, was one of two teenage boys killed when someone fired into a crowd at a Church’s Chicken in the 6600 block of South Halsted. The Chicago Sun-Times reported then that Ross and 17-year-old Dantril Brown were unintended targets.

Last September, Arthur Chaney was found guilty of murder and attempted murder for the 2011 shooting.

“I can’t keep doing this,” Georgia Jackson said. “I’m losing too many kids.”

Thursday was the first quadruple homicide of the year in Chicago. It came just a day after charges were filed in the city’s last quadruple homicide, which occurred in Fernwood last December.

Chicago has seen more than 130 homicides through the first three months of the year, according to records maintained by the Sun-Times.

Police Supt. Eddie Johnson spoke at a news conference shortly after the restaurant shootings, saying he was "angry and sickened."

He called the slayings "targeted" gang shootings, adding, "We know that these weren't random acts of violence," though he said that did not make them any more tolerable.

He promised to increase the police presence in the area and send in saturation teams—mobile patrols that can quickly respond to incidents of violeance in areas where retaliation shootings could be possible.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel also condemned what the killings.

An outraged Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Friday condemned the “level of evil and depravity” that led to the killings.

“There is a level of evil and depravity of an individual who would walk into a restaurant and, in front of a mother, shoot her sons.

“Now, there are other people [who] I believe ... opportunity and jobs will make a difference in their life. For the people who did what they did yesterday, they thought that was their job.”

The mayor said there is “only one place” for those responsible.

“They do not belong in our society. They do not belong in our city. And they do not belong on the streets in the communities and neighborhoods of the city of Chicago,” he said. “They belong behind bars.”