Markeyo Carr | Homicide Watch Chicago

Rapper Young Pappy shot to death in Uptown

Michael Lansu — Fri, 29 May 2015 12:45:49 -0500

Shaquon Thomas / Photo from YouTube

BY MICHAEL LANSU
Homicide Watch Chicago

Chicago rapper Young Pappy, who had previously been the intended target in at least two shootings that left bystanders dead, was himself fatally shot early Friday in the Uptown neighborhood.

Shaquon Thomas, 19, was in the 4800 block of North Kenmore Avenue when gunfire erupted about 1:35 a.m., authorities said. Witnesses reported seeing a black car that may have been associated with the shooting, according to a statement from Ald. Harry Osterman (48th Ward).

The shooting happened across the street from St. Thomas of Canterbury Catholic church.

Paramedics took Thomas to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was declared dead at 2:04 a.m., authorities said.

Uptown resident Kristin Johnson said it is not unusual to hear gunshots in the neighborhood.

"I heard about 10 gunshots and went to the window to peek out, but I didn't see anything," Johnson said.

Johnson, 34, said she initially used to wonder if the loud noises in the neighborhood were gunshots or fireworks, but she has since become desensitized to them.

"I used to feel more safe [in Uptown] ... but I'm a mom now," Johnson said while holding her young child. "It's different when its just you."

Osterman said he has requested "additional security in our area to curb the possibility of retaliatory actions."

Thomas rapped under the moniker Young Pappy. The up-and-coming musician was not signed to a record label, but his song "Killa" has more than 250,000 views on YouTube. Another song, "Fanteo Freestyle," has nearly 225,000 views.

As word of the rapper's death spread, fans, including Cliff Alexander, a standout basketball player at Curie Metropolitan High School and the University of Kansas, took to social media to express their condolences:

The rapper was born on the North Side and makes music because "it puts him in a positive mood," according to his Facebook page.

Authorities listed Thomas' home address as the 6300 block of North Lakewood Avenue, but a resident at the building said he only occasionally stayed there with his father, who recently moved out.

Thomas' family could not be reached for comment.

"He was always happy, he always had everybody positive around him, always had a smile on his face," according to a friend, who is not being identified because he is a juvenile. "He was just happy all the time, hanging out with his friends. He was always cracking jokes."

According to the rapper's Facebook page, he hoped to use music to support his family and the family of a friend killed in street violence.

"He expressed all his feelings in his music, that's how he expressed himself," according to the friend. "That's how he let everything out basically."

Prior to his death, the rapper posted on his Facebook page: "All he wanted me to do was make it. He campaigned my music the hardest out of anybody I knew. I love bro and I'm gonna do this for him cause this what he wanted."

Thomas himself was no stranger to street violence and run-ins with the law.

In 2013, Thomas was sentenced to one year in prison for felony aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, according to court records. He was given credit for time served.

He also has numerous misdemeanor arrests, mostly recently a May 13 disorderly conduct and possession of cannabis charge, according to court records. According to DNAinfo Chicago, that charge came from a record release party that led to a five-hour police standoff and 31 people arrested.

Thomas had twice been the target in shootings that instead killed innocent bystanders William Lewis and Markeyo Carr, according to authorities and DNAinfo Chicago.

Police Tape where Shaquon Thomas was fatally shot.

Osterman confirmed that Thomas "had been a target in other gang-related shootings in Edgewater and Rogers Park."

Lewis, 28, was standing in the 1300 block of West Devon Avenue when a gunman walked up and shot him in the back about 3:20 p.m. July 12, authorities said.

Lewis escaped poverty in Guatemala when he was adopted at age 7. Loving parents raised him in Wisconsin, where he found his two passions: photography and the woman who would become his wife.

He attended art school in Milwaukee and moved to Chicago two years ago. Lewis and his wife moved into an apartment in the 4700 block of North Hermitage Avenue just two weeks before his death, according to a friend.

Prosecutors claim 31-year-old Conservative Vice Lord Eric Vaughn spotted a rival gang member, handed 15-year-old Denzel Burke a gun and Burke and 17-year-old Michael Phillips chased their rival through Rogers Park.

Burke fired 10 times, missing the rival but striking Lewis in the back as he stood at a nearby bus stop, prosecutors said.

On Feb. 5, 2014, a masked gunman fatally shot Carr, 17, and wounded three others in a McDonald’s parking lot in the 6700 block of North Clark Street.

The victims had been in an argument with another group of people shortly before the masked gunman approached, police said.

Jaunita Carr-Clay, Carr’s aunt, said her nephew loved to rap.

“He made little videos at home on his own,” she said. “He was very talented. He rapped about everyday life, reality.”

She said Carr, who attended a nearby high school, had just come from his mother’s house around the corner. “She’d given him a few dollars to get something to eat.”

Nobody has been charged for Carr's death.

A police spokeswoman declined to confirm Thomas' role in the deaths of Lewis and Carr, citing "an open and on-going investigation."

-- Contributing: Matt McCall

-- Network Video Productions

Comment of the Day: "Hanging with the wrong people at the wrong time"

Michael Lansu — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 16:11:54 -0600

Markeyo Carr, 17, was fatally shot in a McDonald's parking lot last Wednesday in the Rogers Park neighborhood. Reader "saddened" tweeted this about him:

Markeyo was a good kid. I has him in some of my programs when he was younger and my husband taught where he went to school. Hanging with the wrong people at the wrong time. Rest in peace.

WEEK IN REVIEW: 7 homicides reported throughout the city

Michael Lansu — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 09:59:47 -0600

BY MICHAEL LANSU
Homicide Watch Chicago Editor

Seven people died last week from violence throughout the city.

Six of the victims were shot to death, and a woman was found fatally stabbed in a burning Southwest Side building. The youngest person killed was 17 and the oldest was 51.

The most recent killing happened when 17-year-old Ronald Hayes was fatally shot in the 1300 block of West Hastings Street about 4:15 p.m. Sunday, authorities said.

Hayes, of the 1300 block of West Washburne Avenue, was pronounced dead at the scene an hour later, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

In the West Garfield Park neighborhood, 44-year-old John Serpe was fatally shot in the 4500 block of West Monroe Street about 5:10 a.m. Sunday, authorities said.

Police found Serpe, of the 2900 block of Maple Avenue in Downers Grove, sitting in the driver’s seat with a single gunshot wound to the left side of his chest, authorities said. He was declared dead at the scene.

In the Brighton Park neighborhood, firefighters found 51-year-old Lucy Wrobel stabbed to death in her burning home in the 2500 block of West 45th Place about 1:50 p.m. Friday, authorities said.

Wrobel was dead on the scene and an autopsy found she died of multiple injuries from a physical assault, according to the medical examiner’s office. Her death was ruled a homicide.

In the Auburn Gresham neighborhood, 29-year-old Corey Williams was fatally shot in the chest about 1:30 a.m. Thursday in the 8100 block of South Marshfield Avenue, authorities said.

Williams, of the 6000 block of South Richmond Avenue, died a short time later at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to the medical examiner's office.

In the Rogers Park neighborhood, 17-year-old Markeyo Carr was killed in a shooting in a McDonald's parking lot that left three others injured about 3:40 p.m. Wednesday, authorities said.

The victims had been in an argument with another group shortly before the masked gunman approached them in the parking lot in the 6700 block of North Clark Street, police said. The shooter ran off and has not been charged.

Carr, of the 6500 block of North Ashland Avenue, was dead on the scene, according to the medical examiner's office. Also wounded were a 15-year-old girl and two 18-year-old men, according to police, who said two of the people shot had gang affiliations.

The killings started when 20-year-old Willie Buie was fatally shot in an alley in the 7600 block of South Wallace Street about 2:10 a.m. Tuesday, authorities said.

Buie was standing with at least one other man when a gunman approached and opened fire, authorities said. Buie, of the 7000 block of South Lowe Avenue, was struck multiple times and died at the scene.

Additionally, 34-year-old Sixto Roman died Tuesday after being shot in the head Feb. 1 in the Logan Square neighborhood.

Roman and another man, also 34, were shot while traveling in a light-colored car in the 3200 block of West Armitage Avenue, authorities said. The other man suffered a graze wound to the head and treated at Stroger Hospital, police said.

Nobody has been charged in any of the killings.

The medical examiner's office has ruled eight February deaths homicides.

In January, Chicago Police reported 20 murders, and the Cook County medical examiner's office, which tracks homicides different, tallied 23 killings in the month.

Markeyo Carr fatally shot in McDonald's parking lot in Rogers Park, 3 others wounded

Michael Lansu — Thu, 06 Feb 2014 08:55:17 -0600

Markeyo Carr / Family Photo

BY MITCH DUDEK, TINA SFONDELES AND REEMA AMIN
Chicago Sun-Times

A masked gunman fatally shot a 17-year-old boy and wounded three others in a Rogers Park McDonald's parking lot Wednesday afternoon.

A short time after dozens of witnesses reported hearing at least six gunshots, the boy lay dead, a sheet covering his body as his mother moaned in grief outside yellow police tape in the 6700 block of North Clark Street.

The teen has been identified as Markeyo Carr, of the 6500 block of North Ashland Avenue, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The victims had been in an argument with another group of people shortly before the masked gunman approached about 3:40 p.m. Wednesday, police Officer Veejay Zala said. Then the shooter ran off, Zala said.

A girl, who police said was about 15, was shot several times, and an 18-year-old man, who was shot in the lower back, were taken to Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston. Another 18-year-old man, who was shot in the arm, was treated at Weiss Memorial Hospital.

“Two of the male victims have documented gang affiliations,” Zala said.

Jaunita Carr-Clay, Carr’s aunt, said her nephew loved to rap.

“He made little videos at home on his own,” she said. “He was very talented. He rapped about everyday life, reality.”

She said Carr, who attended a nearby high school, had just come from his mother’s house around the corner. “She’d given him a few dollars to get something to eat.”

Faye McCoy, a retired nurse, was in a store across the street when she heard the gunshots. The gunfire ceased, and while rushing to see if she could help, McCoy walked right past the masked gunman.

“I didn’t see his face,” she said.

McCoy, who has lived in the area for more than 13 years, broke down when she saw the slain boy with a bullet wound in the side of his head. “I recognized his face,” said McCoy, who knew Carr from working with local youth groups to prevent violence.

“There was no help for him,” she said. “He was shot in the temple, it looked like. He took his last breath with me standing there . . . Blood was everywhere.”

McCoy said she didn’t think Carr was in a gang, and she lamented the needless death.

“I have great-grandkids, and it would hurt my heart to see one of them laying out here like that.”

-- Contributing: Sun-Times Media Wire