WEEK IN REVIEW: 17 killed in Chicago violence, including six members of one family in Gage Park

Jeff Mayes — Mon, 08 Feb 2016 16:00:22 -0600

By JEFF MAYES
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

At least 17 people were killed in violence in Chicago in the last week, including one of the most shocking crimes in the city in recent memory in which six members of the same family, including two young boys, were found slain in a home that one responding police officer called a "bloody mess."

Chicago Police said there were no signs that anyone had ransacked a house where six people, three generations of one Mexican immigrant family, had been slain. The victims—two men, two women and two boys ages 10 and 13,—were found dead Thursday afternoon after police checked on the well-being of a man who didn’t show up to work for two days.

Family members and the medical examiner’s office identified the victims as: 62-year-old Noe Martinez Sr. and his wife, 58-year-old Rosaura Martinez; their adult children, 38-year-old Noe Martinez Jr. and 32-year-old Maria Herminia Martinez; and Herminia’s sons, 10-year-old Alexis Cruz and 13-year-old Leonardo Cruz.

Autopsies found the boys suffered “sharp force” injuries, which a spokeswoman for the medical examiner’s office defined as either a stabbing or cutting wound, or both. Herminia Martinez died of gunshot wounds. Noe Martinez Sr. died of “sharp force” wounds. And his wife and his son, Noe Jr., died of “multiple sharp and blunt force injuries,” autopsies showed.

While a police source said the family was targeted, no motive for the crime has been given, and no suspects were in custody four days later.

The last homicide of the week left one man dead and another wounded in a Humboldt Park neighborhood shooting Sunday afternoon. About 12:45 p.m., 21-year-old Dwight Hughes Jr. was outside in the 3900 block of West Augusta when three people walked out of an alley and one of them started shooting, according to police and the medical examiner's office.

Hughes, of the 3400 block of West Foster, was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:06 a.m. A 20-year-old man was also shot in the head, right arm and torso at the same location, police said. His condition was stabilized.

The man was shot in the neck and pronounced dead at the scene, police said. His name had not been released as of late Monday afternoon. A 20-year-old man was also shot in the head, arm and torso at the same location, police said. He took himself to Norwegian American Hospital and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where his condition was stabilized.

A 21-year-old man was fatally shot through the window of a home in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood late Friday.

Matthew W. Williams was shot in the back in a basement apartment in the 7100 block of South Calumet about 11:25 p.m., according to police and the medical examiner’s office.

Williams, of the 1000 block of East 46th Street, was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12:08 a.m. Saturday.

Tony Jones was shot and killed Thursday evening in the Austin neighborhood. The 18-year-old was walking in the 5900 block of West LeMoyne Street about 7:40 p.m. when he heard gunfire and felt pain, according to police.

He suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the abdomen and back, and was able to make it to the 1400 block of North Mayfield Avenue, where authorities were notified, police said. He was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he died at 11:13 p.m. An autopsy showed he died of a gunshot wound to the back.

25-year-old Aaren O'Connor died Sunday, two days after she was struck by a stray bullet in the Heart of Chicago neighborhood on the South Side. About 7:30 p.m. Friday, she was sitting in her car in the 2000 block of West 21st Place, where she lived, and talking to her father on her cellphone when she was struck by gunfire, according to police.

O’Connor, who lived on the same block, was taken to Stroger Hospital, where she was pronounced brain dead at 4:48 p.m. Sunday, according to the medical examiner’s office. Police said O’Connor was not the intended target of the shooting, which started with a fight on the block where she was killed.

Two men were shot, one fatally, Thursday evening in Humboldt Park. John Mackey, 18, and a 20-year-old man were inside a restaurant in the 3700 block of West Division just before 5:30 p.m. when someone came in and opened fire, according to police and the medical examiner’s office.

Mackey was shot in the head, while the older man suffered a gunshot wound to the arm, authorities said. They were both taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where Mackey, of the 2600 block of West Potomac Avenue, died. The older man’s condition was stabilized.

Maria Ramos was stabbed to death Thursday morning in a laundromat where she worked in the Pilsen neighborhood. Police believe the incident was a domestic-related attack.

The 34-year-old was stabbed in the head in the Spin Cycle in the 1700 block of West Cermak at 8:23 a.m., according to police and the medical examiner’s office. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Sixteen-year-old Martel Anderson was fatally shot Wednesday morning on his way to school in Austin. The teen was walking on the sidewalk in the 5000 block of West Ferdinand about 8:10 a.m. when two males walked up and one pulled out a handgun and opened fire, according to police.

The boy was shot in the face, and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

A 21-year-old man was killed Tuesday night in a South Chicago neighborhood drive-by shooting. Hector Del Rio was standing with another person on the sidewalk in the 8100 block of South Houston about 10:30 p.m. when a minivan drove past and someone inside fired shots, according to police and the medical examiner's office.

Del Rio suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the buttocks and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he died at 11:42 p.m. He lived in the block where the shooting happened.

Matabias Biles was stabbed to death Tuesday evening during a domestic incident in the Homan Square neighborhood.

The 34-year-old was stabbed in the face and chest about 7:40 p.m. in the 3400 block of West Flournoy, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Biles, who lived on the same block, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 8:57 p.m. Police said the stabbing was domestic-related, but no one was in custody.

A 31-year-old man was shot to death Monday morning in the South Side Washington Heights neighborhood after answering his front door.

Paul C. Sappington answered the door of his home in the 9000 block of South May about 10:15 a.m. and was shot by two male suspects, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

A 42-year-old west suburban man was shot to death early Monday in Austin. The shooting happened about 12:30 a.m. in the 500 block of South Cicero, police said.

Edward Flowers was shot in the chest and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 2:45 a.m. He lived in Cicero.

John Mackey | Homicide Watch Chicago

WEEK IN REVIEW: 17 killed in Chicago violence, including six members of one family in Gage Park