Jose Nieves | Homicide Watch Chicago

Police officer Lowell Houser, charged with fatal shooting of Jose Nieves, released from jail on his own recognizance

Jeff Mayes — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 15:44:22 -0600

By STEFANO ESPOSITO
Chicago Sun-Times

Lowell Houser | Cook County State's Attorney's Office

The off-duty Chicago Police officer charged with murdering an unarmed man earlier this month also pulled a handgun on Jose Nieves last December, a Cook County prosecutor said during the officer’s bond hearing Thursday.

And after Officer Lowell Houser shot and killed Nieves Jan. 2, he told a 911 dispatcher that: “A gentleman tried to attack me. I had to shoot him,” according to Assistant State’s Attorney Lynn McCarthy.

McCarthy asked that Houser, 57, be held without bond, but Cook County Judge Donald Panarese Jr. allowed the veteran cop to be released on his own recognizance.

Houser will be placed on electronic monitoring while he awaits trial.

As Houser stood in court, wearing a black-and-white flannel shirt with his hands behind his back, McCarthy described how the officer and Nieves had past altercations.

“Nieves and the defendant knew each other from prior interactions,” McCarthy said.

Jose Nieves | Facebook

Houser had a “female companion” in the same apartment building where Nieves lived in the 2500 block of North Lowell, McCarthy said, and Nieves, 38, was friends with the woman’s children.

In December, Houser at one point pulled a gun and “ordered Nieves to get back into his apartment,” McCarthy said. Nieves filed a police report, she said.

On the morning of the deadly shooting, Nieves was with a friend, moving some boxes into Nieves’ apartment, when Houser showed up and got in his car, McCarthy said.

At some point, Houser lowered his car window and talked to Nieves’ friend, saying, “Who are you? Why are you helping him? Are you his mother? You know he treats women badly?” McCarthy said.

A little later, Nieves approached Houser’s car and confronted him, telling Houser to talk to him directly next time, McCarthy said.

Then a neighbor on North Lowell who was watching TV heard arguing come from the street below, McCarthy said. He looked out of his window and saw Nieves and Houser arguing. The neighbor couldn’t make out the specific words, McCarthy said.

The neighbor returned to watching TV, but a short while later, heard a single, loud “bang” coming from the street, prosecutors said.

The neighbor went back to the window and saw Houser pointing a gun toward Nieves, who placed “his hand on his chest and [fell] backwards to the ground, landing face up,” McCarthy said. The neighbor heard three “bangs” in total.

Houser called 911, telling the dispatcher someone had tried to attack him and that he’d been forced to shoot, McCarthy said. But arriving officers found no evidence of a weapon on or near Nieves, McCarthy said. The witness also didn’t see Nieves with a gun, she said.

But Houser’s attorney, William Fahy, said Nieves was the aggressor on Jan. 2.

“The deceased then threatened my client—threatening to shoot him,” Fahy said, suggesting Nieves made a motion toward a possibly concealed weapon.

Fahy added: “That’s not first degree murder, it’s self-defense.”

Fahy also said his client is suffering from prostate cancer.

“He was actually looking forward to retiring at the end of the year,” Fahy said.

Chicago Police officer Lowell Houser charged with murder for Jan. 2 shooting of Jose Nieves during altercation on NW Side

Jeff Mayes — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 09:48:52 -0600

By SAM CHARLES
Chicago Sun-Times

Lowell Houser | Cook County State's Attorney's Office

A veteran Chicago Police officer who fatally shot Jose Nieves on the Northwest Side earlier this year has been charged with first-degree murder.

Lowell Houser, 57, was charged with murder on Wednesday.

Houser, an officer assigned to the mass transit unit, fatally shot Nieves, who was unarmed, while off duty on the morning of Jan. 2 in the 2500 block of North Lowell, Chicago Police said.

Police have released few details about what led to the shooting, other than to say at the time an “altercation” between the men escalated, and the officer shot him several times. Nieves was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he died later that morning, authorities said.

Houser was arrested by Chicago Police on Wednesday and is scheduled to appear in bond court Thursday at noon.

Houser joined the department about 28 years ago. His disciplinary history includes five-day suspensions for an off-duty domestic altercation in 2001 and a medical-roll violation in 2006.

Jose Nieves | Facebook

Just a day after the shooting happened, the department stripped Houser of his police powers.

At a news conference a few hours after the shooting, Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said: “I have a lot more questions than I do answers at this time.”

Johnson told reporters that Houser does not live in the area but knew Nieves from another “confrontation a few weeks ago.”

However, family members said Nieves and Houser were neighbors, who had had problems in the past. They have set up a GoFundMe page to help with funeral expenses.

After the shooting, the police department and Independent Police Review Authority opened simultaneous investigations into the shooting.

The police department, however, turned its investigation over to the Cook COunty state’s attorney’s office and IPRA “once the possibility of criminal violations were suspected,” police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in an email.

“CPD will fully cooperate with the state’s attorney throughout the judicial process,” he added.

The FBI also assisted in the investigation, according to the state’s attorney’s office.

With Wednesday’s charges, IPRA will halt its administrative investigation “until we see how the murder charges play out,” IPRA spokeswoman Mia Sissac said.

“We wouldn’t want to do anything to jeopardize that,” she said.

Sissac added that, during its preliminary investigation, IPRA provided the state’s attorney’s office with information on the shooting.

Dean Angelo, Jr., president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7, declined to comment on Houser’s case.

However, the decision to bring murder charges against an officer less than a week after the release of the Department of Justice’s scathing report on Chicago Police practices was bound to have a negative impact on union morale, Angelo said.

“This is another situation that we’re going to be faced with dealing with, and it is another situation that every officer that’s out there right now in a squad car is going to be thinking about,” Angelo said.

On Jan. 6, Nieves’ family sued over the shooting, alleging that Houser threatened and killed Nieves without justification.

In a statement issued Wednesday afternoon, Nieves family attorney Andrew Stroth said: “The Nieves’ family is devastated by the loss of Jose. The state’s attorney’s action today will not bring back Jose, but is an important and swift step in the criminal justice process.”

Court records show Nieves had been arrested more than 20 times on charges that including domestic battery, theft, burglary and assault. He was convicted only once, in 2012, on charges of marijuana possession and possession of a replica gun. He was sentenced to court supervision.

Houser is now the second CPD officer to face murder charges in a little over a year. Officer Jason Van Dyke is awaiting trial on charges he unlawfully shot Laquan McDonald 16 times in October 2014.

In her administration’s 2016 transition report, State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said one of her office’s “key recommendations” was to: “Evaluate and modify as needed the system for investigation and prosecution of police misconduct, including the creation of protocols governing the investigation of officer-involved shootings and the potential use of special prosecutors for police misconduct investigations to avoid concerns about conflict of interest and promote the appearance of propriety.”

Reached Wednesday evening, a spokeswoman for the state’s attorney’s office declined to comment on whether or not Foxx would ask for a special prosecutor in the case.

Richard Kling, a veteran defense attorney and professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law, said that despite Foxx’s “recommendation,” there is nothing that could force her office to ask for a special prosecutor.

“Unless she feels her office will have bias in charging, then her office is the one that will file and prosecute,” Kling said.

WEEK IN REVIEW: At least 8 die from violence in Chicago, including two teenage boys, and two brothers

Jeff Mayes — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 12:30:16 -0600

By JEFF MAYES
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

At least eight people were killed in Chicago violence last week, including two brothers and a pair of teenage boys, all of whom died after a pair of shootings on the West Side.

The boys were killed in a drive-by shooting that also left a 65-year-old woman was wounded Tuesday afternoon in the East Garfield Park neighborhood.

Sixteen-year-old Malik McNeese and a 17-year-old Stevie Jefferson were on a sidewalk about noon in the 3400 block of West Fulton when a black SUV pulled up. Someone in the vehicle opened fire, hitting the younger boy in the head, back and arm; and the older boy in the head, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

McNeese was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead; while Jefferson died after being taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, authorities said.

A stray bullet went through the front door of a home on the block, hitting the 65-year-old woman in the leg. She was taken to Mount Sinai in good condition, police said.

About 12 hours later, the brothers were fatally shot in the Homan Square neighborhood Tuesday night. Officers responding at 11:13 p.m. to a call of shots fired in the 3200 block of West Lexington found the pair lying in the street, police said.

Simmieon McGruder, 23, was shot in the head and left arm, and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:52 p.m., according to police and the medical examiner’s office. His brother, 25-year-old Simmie McGruder, suffered multiple gunshot wounds, and died at Mount Sinai at 5:13 a.m. the next morning.
A 31-year-old man who worked as finance manager at Chicago Tech Academy High School was found shot to death Saturday morning just a block away from the school in the University Village neighborhood.
Jason "Jay" Goodfriend was found when officers responded to a report of a man slumped over inside a running vehicle about 9:50 a.m. in the 1300 block of West Hastings, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Goodfriend had suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was pronounced dead at the scene at 10:07 a.m., authorities said.
A 33-year-old man died Friday, nearly two weeks after being wounded in a mass shooting Christmas night in the East Chatham neighborhood that left another pair of brothers dead. Three men were killed and four others wounded in the shooting, which happened about 9:20 p.m. on Dec. 25, police said.
A group of people were gathered on the porch of a home in the 8600 block of South Maryland for a holiday party when someone wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt walked out from an alley and opened fire before running away.

Steven Freeman, of the 7600 block of South Normal, was shot in the body and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he died at 1:53 a.m. Friday, according to police and the medical examiner’s office.

Also killed in that shooting were James Gill, 18, who was shot in the head and pronounced dead at the scene; and his brother Roy Gill III, 21, who was shot multiple times and died at Christ Medical Center, authorities said. A 35-year-old man suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was also taken to Christ, where he was listed in critical condition, police said. A 27-year-old man and 21-year-old woman both suffered a gunshot wound to the leg and were taken to Stroger, where their conditions were stabilized. A 39-year-old man shot in the foot later and was in good condition, police said.
A 36-year-old man was shot to death late Thursday in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side. Someone walked up to Dante J. Swanson about 11:15 p.m. as he sat in the driver’s seat of a car parked in the 800 block of East 46th Street, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. The suspect fired repeatedly, striking Swanson several times across the body. He was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. Swanson worked as a delivery driver for FedEx, and had just ended a work shift when he was shot.
The week's first homicide occurred when an off-duty Chicago Police officer fatally shot a man on the Northwest Side after an argument Monday morning, officials said. The medical examiner’s office identified the slain man as 38-year-old Jose Nieves, who was shot several times though did not have a weapon, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.
Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said the 57-year-old cop, assigned to the mass transit unit, does not live in the area but knew the person he shot from another “confrontation a few weeks ago.”

An “altercation” between the men escalated about 9:30 a.m. in front of a Nieves' residence in the 2500 block of North Lowell, and the officer shot him multiple times, according to a police statement. Nieves was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he died less than an hour later.

The police department and Independent Police Review Authority have opened simultaneous investigations into the shooting. The department announced Tuesday that the officer has been stripped of his police powers.

Jose Nieves fatally shot by off-duty police officer during 'altercation' in front of home in Hermosa

Jeff Mayes — Mon, 02 Jan 2017 21:43:40 -0600

By SAM CHARLES
Chicago Sun-Times

Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson speaks to reporters after an off-duty officer shot and killed a man in the Hermosa neighborhood Monday morning. | Sam Charles/Sun-Times

An off-duty Chicago Police officer fatally shot 38-year-old Jose Nieves in the Northwest Side Hermosa neighborhood after an argument Monday morning, officials said.

Nieves was shot several times and did not have a weapon, according to police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said and the Cook County medical examiner's office.

“I have a lot more questions than I do answers at this time,” Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said during a briefing with reporters. “I came out because I wanted to make sure that the investigation was done properly.”

Johnson said the officer, a 57-year-old man assigned to the mass transit unit, does not live in the area, but knew the person he shot from another “confrontation a few weeks ago.”

An “altercation” between the men escalated about 9:30 a.m. in front of Nieves' residence in the 2500 block of North Lowell, and the officer shot Nieves multiple times, according to authorities. He was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he died at 9:51 a.m.

The police department and Independent Police Review Authority have opened simultaneous investigations into the shooting,

Guglielmi said police are still canvassing the area for witnesses and surveillance footage. The shooting happened on the same block as Kelvyn Park High School.

Siclaly Mandujano, 16, and her family have lived a half block south of the shooting scene for five years, and she said was at home when she heard three shots fired. She said she hears gunfire in the area at least once a month.

She sat on her front porch, holding her dog, a chihuahua-Jack Russell terrier-poodle mix, named Lucky, as police closed off traffic on the block.

“I have two older brothers and it’s kind of dangerous for them,” Mandujano said. “They’re not in anything bad or anything, but it’s dangerous for them.”