Nicholas Keener | Homicide Watch Chicago

Comment of the Day: "We all miss you home boy"

Michael Lansu — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 16:20:38 -0500

Roosevelt High School student Nicholas Keener, 16, was fatally shot May 31 on the Northwest Side. Reader "In nicks memory" posted this about him:

Miss you nick..we all miss you home boy..RIP Nicky

Friend: Slain Roosevelt High student Nicholas Keener enjoyed cycling, basketball

Michael Lansu — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 16:29:22 -0500

Nicholas Keener / Photo from Twitter

BY SUSAN DU
Homicide Watch Chicago

Roosevelt High School junior Nicholas Keener "basically had a feeling that something was gonna happen," a friend said.

That feeling turned out to be true as Nicholas, 16, was shot in the chest while walking with a group in the 3800 block of North St. Louis Avenue about 10:30 p.m. Saturday, authorities said.

Nicholas, of the 4800 block of North Hamlin Avenue, died less than an hour later at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Elitania Gutierrez, Nicholas' classmate at Roosevelt, said he was walking to a friend's barbecue when he was shot.

Elitania, 17, said Nicholas had posted to Facebook asking who would be at his funeral if something happened. His friends didn't take the post too seriously -- joking about leaving blunts in his casket and burying him under the Gucci store, she said. Nicholas was shot dead a short time later.

Earlier that day, Nicholas confided in Elitania that he was afraid that if he were attacked he wouldn't be able to run away because his ankle was hurt, she said.

"Lately, here in Chicago, everything's been crazy, so he was really trying to be safe, trying to look out for others, especially for his ... not blood brothers, but he has a brotherhood with three other people, his main people," Elitania said.

Elitania said Nicholas was never involved in gangs, but police said detectives are investigating if the shooting was gang related.

Elitania remembered Nicholas fondly as someone who was always smiling, dancing and making jokes. She said he kept out of trouble and enjoyed playing basketball and bicycling -- especially Critical Mass, a monthly biking event through Downtown.

"Biking was his thing," Elitania added. "It was a spiritual thing. When he was stressed out, he would go. He'd say, 'Wow I really needed this.'"

A bicycle was found at the crime scene.

Scene where Nicholas Keener was fatally shot / Photo by NVP News Video

As a student, Nicholas was "ambitious but lazy," Elitania said. His goal was to graduate, and though he occasionally struggled with attendance, he was loved by teachers and his fellow classmates, she said.

"He had a diverse friend group. That's the thing about him," Elitania said. "That's why everybody's hurting so much in school, for the simple fact that he didn't care who you were, he didn't care what race you were. he didn't care about nothing. If he messed around with you, you were his friend right away."

In the days following Nicholas' death, his friends at Roosevelt set up a fundraiser in support of his family. His two little brothers are staying with family friends as his mother and grandmother make funeral arrangements with the help of Roosevelt students.

"His family wasn't the richest, so we're trying to give him a proper burial," Elitania said.

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.

Nicholas Keener, 16, shot dead on Northwest Side

Michael Lansu — Sun, 01 Jun 2014 16:11:57 -0500

Scene where Nicholas Keener was fatally shot / Photo by NVP News Video

Nicholas Keener was killed in a drive-by shooting Saturday night in the Irving Park neighborhood.

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

Keener, of the 4800 block of North Hamlin Avenue, was shot in the chest and died at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center at 11:08 p.m. Saturday, authorities said.

Nobody has been charged for the murder.

Area North detectives are investigating if the shooting is gang related.

-- Sun-Times Media Wire