Eric Kall | Homicide Watch Chicago

Boss: Slain landscaper Eric Kall 'was very proud' of young son

Michael Lansu — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 10:03:20 -0500

Eric Kall / Photo from Facebook

BY SUSAN DU
Homicide Watch Chicago

Eric Kall had just gotten a season pass to take his young son to Brookfield Zoo this summer, friends said.

Kall won't get to use those passes after being shot about 10 p.m. June 1 in the 6200 block of South Francisco Avenue in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood, authorities said.

Kall, of the 5100 block of South Moody Avenue, died at Holy Cross Hospital about 20 minutes later, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

He had turned 27 the day before.

A close friend, who asked not to be named, said the two celebrated Kall's birthday by relaxing at home, tossing bean bags, drinking and grilling. It was a rare respite for Kall, who spent most of his time working at Nature Gro Systems in Orland Park.

“He had some great friends. He had a great heart,” Kall’s friend said. “He was hated by a lot of people, but he was loved by many. He always showed a lot of respect to everybody he was close to.”

Kall lived in Chicago all his life and was a loyal fan of the Bears, Bulls and White Sox.

He got into trouble in his youth and never completed high school, but worked hard for his family and hoped for a better future, coworkers said.

Nature Gro Systems owner Joseph Delogu said he hired Kall in August 2013 because of his calm, good mannered, soft-spoken personality. He learned quickly and had the ambition and potential to work his way up to foreman.

As part a three-man team, Kall did landscaping, lawn maintenance and snow removal, Delogu said.

“He could pick up anything. He was a very bright person, very good mind,” Delogu said. “I had many employees work for me and many of them just will not learn much, but he would do anything you trained him.”

Kall tended to focus on his job while on company time, but occasionally talked about his 5-year-old son and how proud he was of him, Delogu said. Kall had recently requested some time off to attend his son’s kindergarten graduation.

“He loved his child,” Delogu said. “It sounded like he loved to look after his son when his girlfriend had to work. You could tell he was very proud. He was number one.”

Kall lived apart from his girlfriend and hadn’t seen his son for about two weeks before he died, his friend said. But Kall's hoped to move in with the child's mother and raise more children later in life.

“He was probably a documented gang member, but he wasn’t really in the streets like that,” the friend said. “He wasn’t young anymore. It had to have happened because he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. He just wanted to raise his family and get away from all the problems in the neighborhood. I guess they just caught up with him.”

Nobody has been charged for the murder.

Area Central detectives are investigating.

WEEK IN REVIEW: 14 murdered throughout Chicago

Michael Lansu — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 09:17:44 -0500

BY MICHAEL LANSU
Homicide Watch Chicago Editor

Fourteen people were murdered throughout Chicago last week -- including two people in their 50s.

Nine of the murders happened on South Side, four on the West Side and one on the North Side. The Austin community had the most killings last week with three.

The most recent murder happened when 27-year-old Eric Kall was shot multiple times in the 6200 block of South Francisco Avenue shortly after 10 p.m. Sunday, authorities said.

Kall, of the 5100 block of South Moody Avenue, died at Holy Cross Hospital about 20 minutes later, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

In the South Deering community, 31-year-old Denero Appleton was shot while standing outside in the 9600 block of South Brennan Avenue when several people walked up and opened fire at 8:48 p.m. Sunday, authorities said.

Appleton, of the 9900 block of South Calhoun Avenue, died later at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to the medical examiner’s office.

In the Austin community, 17-year-old Donald Williams was standing with a group of females near North Lavergne Avenue and West Ferdinand Street when several gunmen emerged from a nearby alley and opened fire about 12:30 a.m. Sunday, authorities said.

Williams, of the 3000 block of West Dickens Street, was shot in the back and died at Mount Sinai Hospital at 1:19 a.m. Sunday, authorities said. Two teenage girls and three women were also wounded.

On Saturday, 16-year-old Nicholas Keener was walking with a group in the 3800 block of North St. Louis Avenue in the Irving Park community when shots were fired from a passing vehicle about 10:30 p.m., authorities said.

Keener, of the 4800 block of North Hamlin Avenue, was shot in the chest and died at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center less than an hour later, authorities said.

In the South Chicago neighborhood, 33-year-old De Angelo Russell was walking with a friend in the 2600 block of East 83rd Street when at least one gunman walked up and fired shots about 10:15 p.m. Saturday, authorities said.

Russell, of the 8200 block of South Marquette Avenue, was shot in the thigh, leg and arm and died at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to the medical examiner’s office.

In the Chatham neighborhood, 21-year-old McArthur Swindle was sitting in a sport-utility vehicle in the 700 block of East 87th Street when someone walked up and fatally shot him about 3:20 p.m. Saturday, authorities said.

Swindle — who went by the name Nuski as a rapper — was a relative of prominent Chicago rapper Lil Durk.

On Friday, 51-year-old Charles D. Short was standing with another man in the 4200 block of South Princeton Avenue in the Fuller Park neighborhood when a vehicle drove up and a male exited and started shooting in their direction about 6:30 p.m. Friday, authorities said.

Short, 51, of the 6700 block of South Indiana Avenue, was shot in the head and pronounced dead at the scene, according to the medical examiner’s office.

On Thursday, 19-year-old Malcolm Stuckey was on a porch in the 5700 block of South La Salle Street in the Englewood neighborhood when someone walked out of a gangway and fired shots about 6:10 p.m., authorities said.

Stuckey, 19, of the 16000 block of Carrington Drive in South Holland, was shot in the head and declared dead at 10:35 p.m., authorities said. Two other men, 23 and 24, were also wounded in the shooting.

On the South Side, 58-year-old Betty Howard was shot in the head in the 700 block of East 79th Street about 5:25 p.m. Thursday, authorities said. Howard, of of the 2200 block of South 14th Avenue in Broadview, died at Northwestern Memorial Hospital less than an hour later.

Howard was a special education teacher Gwendolyn Brooks College Prep and was working her second job in her Chatham real estate office when she was shot.

In the South Shore neighborhood, 21-year-old Craig Mitchell was shot multiple times in the 2400 block of East 74th Street about 12:30 p.m. Thursday, authorities said. He was declared dead on the scene.

On Tuesday, 21-year-old Paul Pyron was driving a black Ford Expedition in the 2300 block of West 80th Street in the Ashburn neighborhood when two people approached and shot him during a carjacking about 10:25 p.m., authorities said.

Pyron died later that night at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to the medical examiner's office.

Friends said Pyron was an aspiring rapper who was always telling jokes.

On Monday, 33-year-old Monte Tillman was fatally shot about 3:15 p.m. in the 5200 block of West Lake Street in the Austin community, authorities said. Tillman, of the 1100 block of Thomas Avenue in Forest Park, died about an hour later at Stroger Hospital, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Tillman’s cousin, the Rev. Ezra Tillman of First Trinity Missionary Baptist Church in Flint, Mich., said Monte Tillman got involved in Chicago’s gang culture and the family was “hurt but not shocked” to learn of his death.

In the East Garfield Park neighborhood, police found 47-year-old Vincent Simmons in a vacant apartment in the the 2800 block of West Arthington Street about 7:15 a.m. Monday, authorities said. Simmons and a 43-year-old man were each stabbed and shot in the head.

Simmons, of the 2700 block of West Harrison Street, was dead at the scene, according to the medical examiner’s office. The other man survived, police said.

The killings started when 25-year-old Lance Stanton was shot 5400 block of West Haddon Avenue in the Austin neighborhood about 1 a.m., authorities said. Stanton, who lived on the block, died at Stroger Hospital.

Nobody has been charged in any of the murders.

Overall, the medical examiner’s office has ruled at least 156 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, recorded 134 murders through May, ruling the other homicides as involuntary manslaughter, justified self-defense or accidents.

Eric Kall shot to death in Chicago Lawn community

Michael Lansu — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 08:52:21 -0500

Eric Kall was shot and killed Sunday night in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood.

Kall, 27, was shot multiple times in the 6200 block of South Francisco Avenue shortly after 10 p.m. Sunday, authorities said.

Kall, of the 5100 block of South Moody Avenue, died at Holy Cross Hospital about 20 minutes later, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Nobody has been charged for the murder.

Area Central detectives are investigating.

-- Sun-Times Media Wire