6 dead, 41 shot in weekend violence

Sun-Times Media Wire — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 09:14:57 -0500

Six men are dead and at least 41 others were wounded in gun violence across the city since Friday afternoon. The number of people killed or wounded over the last few days added up to the single-most violent weekend in Chicago this year. Those killed ranged in age from 16 to 40. Overall homicides are down this year when compared to the same time last year. This decline has prompted Mayor Rahm Emanuel and police Supt. Garry McCarthy to tout the effectiveness of revamped police tactics. “We had 8 fewer shooting incidents this weekend compared to the same weekend in 2012,” police spokesman Adam Collins wrote in an email sent out early Monday. “While we’ve had fewer murders to date this year than any year since the mid-1960s, there’s more work to be done and we won’t rest until everyone in Chicago enjoys the same sense of safety,” Collins wrote. The most recent fatal shooting happened early Sunday in the West Garfield Park neighborhood. A man was killed and a woman was wounded about 1:30 a.m. in the 200 block of South Keeler Avenue, police said. Cortez Wilberton, 31, of the 200 block of South Lavergne Avenue, was taken to Loretto Hospital where he died at 2:13 a.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office. A 31-year-old woman suffered a graze wound to the cheek and was listed in “stable” condition at Loretto Hospital. About 1:15 a.m. Sunday, a man was shot to death in Englewood, police said. Jamal Jones, 19, was discovered on a sidewalk in the 7400 block of South Parnell Avenue with gunshot wounds to the shoulder and chest, police said. Jones, of the 8800 block of South Yale Avenue, died about an hour later at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. A few minutes after midnight Sunday, 40-year-old Todd Wood was killed and three others were wounded in a shooting at a nightclub in the Chatham neighborhood, authorities said. A gunman walked up to the open door of the club in the 900 block of East 79th Street and opened fire, striking the four men, police said. The men were involved in an argument outside the club before the attack. Wood, of the 8100 block of South St. Lawrence Avenue, was taken to Advocate Trinity Hospital where he died at 12:42 a.m., police and the medical examiner’s office said. Another 40-year-old man was shot in the chest and taken in critical condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. A 35-year-old man was shot in the leg and listed in “stable” condition at University of Chicago Medical Center. Another man, also 35, was taken by a friend to Jackson Park Hospital with a gunshot wound to the leg. About 11:45 p.m. in the West Side Humboldt Park neighborhood, a 16-year-old boy died after he was shot by a gunman on a bicycle, police said. Kevin Rivera, of the 1500 block of North Keystone Avenue, was walking through an alley when a gunman rode up on a bicycle and opened fire, striking him in the arm and back, authorities said. The boy collapsed down the block from where he was shot. He was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he died at 1:37 a.m. Police said the shooting is thought to be gang-related. Earlier Saturday, about 10:50 p.m., one man was killed and two others were wounded in a shooting in the Little Village neighborhood on the Southwest Side. They were standing outside in the 2500 block of South Ridgeway Avenue when a male shooter approached and opened fire, police said. Ricardo Herrera, 21, of the 2400 block of South Marshall Boulevard, was dead at the scene, according to the medical examiner’s office. Another person shot in the shoulder was taken in “stable” condition to Mount Sinai Hospital, and a third person was shot in the back, police said. The first homicide of the weekend happened late Friday in Austin, when McGregory Porter, 24, was shot in the eye and another man was shot in the abdomen during an altercation, authorities said. The shooting happened about 11 p.m. in the 5500 block of West Quincy Street, police said. Porter, of the 5900 block of West Iowa Street, was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he died at 11:34 p.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office. A 23-year-old man was also wounded and listed in “stable” condition at Mount Sinai Hospital. At least 34 other people were also wounded in shootings across the city since Friday night, police said, at least four of who were critically injured. Most recently a male in the Roseland neighborhood was taken to Advocate Christ in critical condition after he was shot in the head in the 9500 block of South Perry Avenue about 2:30 a.m., police said. The youngest shooting victim was a 15-year-old boy wounded in the right arm when a shooter opened fire at him and two other men Saturday afternoon in the Southwest Side Chicago Lawn neighborhood. A 19-year-old man was also shot in the right leg and a 23-year-old man was shot in the back, police and fire officials said. All three were being treated at area hospitals in serious or critical condition. In addition to the 6 dead and 41 who were wounded by gunfire over the weekend, Chicago Police shot and killed two teenage boys and a 21-year-old man, in addition to wounding a 16-year-old boy who swung at an officer with a fence picket, police said.

Jamal Jones | Homicide Watch Chicago

6 dead, 41 shot in weekend violence