Monday, July 7, 2014

Chicago: the astonishing shooting/murder weekend

11 Killed, At Least 60 Wounded In Citywide Shootings This Weekend


CHICAGO (CBS) – At least 11 people were killed and 60 others were wounded over the long holiday weekend, from Thursday afternoon, to early Monday morning.
There were also six police-involved shootings, two of them involving teens who were killed.
In the most recent fatal shooting, a 24-year-old man was shot in the back, right arm, chest, and eye while he was standing on the 8400 block of South Buffalo Avenue around 2:30 a.m. Monday. Police believe the shooter approached him from a nearby gangway and opened fire. The victim was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:33 a.m.
Authorities have not yet released the woman’s name.
In other fatal shootings:
• A 44-year-old woman was at a barbecue around 12:30 a.m. Monday in the Morgan Park neighborhood, when someone shot her as she was leaning into a car in a parking lot near 109th and Throop. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
• Shiquille Salter, 23, was shot several times in the chest around 9 p.m. Sunday while he was standing on a corner in the 300 block of West 116th Street. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead.
• Two men were sitting in a car in the 5200 block of West Lake Street Sunday evening, when someone walked up and opened fire. Donald Ray, 21, man was shot in the head, and pronounced dead at West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park. The other man was not seriously injured.
• Kezon Lamb, 19, was sitting in a vehicle with a female in the 4400 block of North Malden Street about 12:20 a.m. when a gunman walked up and fired shots, authorities said. Lamb, of the 4100 block of West 127th Street in Alsip, was shot in the back and taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 1:05 a.m., authorities said.
• Anthony Hobson, 25, was riding a bike in the 10400 block of South Normal Avenue about 11:35 p.m. Saturday night, when a silver sedan drove by and someone inside fired shots, authorities said. Hobson, of the 10500 block of South Normal Avenue, was shot in the head and shoulder and taken to Roseland Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12:07 a.m., authorities said. Police said he is a documented gang member.
• Shaquille Ross, 18, was found unresponsive in the street in the 6500 block of South Seeley Avenue about 4:30 p.m. with gunshot wounds to the upper torso and neck, according to police and the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office. Ross, of the 200 block of West 95th Street, was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead at 8:09 p.m., authorities said. Police said he was a documented gang member.
• Deandre Brown, 23, was in the 8700 block of South Houston Avenue about 10:20 a.m. Saturday when he was shot in the leg and abdomen, authorities said. Brown, of the 9000 block of South Mackinaw Avenue, was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:38 a.m., the medical examiner’s office said.
• Joel Bentley, 30, was in a Walgreens parking lot on the southwest corner of West 63rd Street and South Austin Avenue just before 1 a.m. Saturday when he was shot in the abdomen, authorities said. Bentley, of the 5000 block of South Keating Avenue, was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead at 5:46 a.m., the medical examiner’s office said.
• Two men were standing outside in the 2000 block of West 63rd Street when a black vehicle pulled up and someone inside opened fire, striking both of them, police said. Corey Hudson, 34, of the 6000 block of South Bell Avenue, was dead at the scene, the medical examiner’s office said. The other man, Robbert Cotton of the 9600 block of South Mozart Street in Evergreen Park, was taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, police said. He was pronounced dead at 4:47 a.m. Sunday.
At least 60 other people were wounded in citywide shootings throughout the holiday weekend.
In an email, police spokesman Martin Maloney said, “We saw an unacceptable level of gun violence this weekend, and there is clearly much more work to be done. We will keep building on our strategy, putting more officers on the street in summer months, proactively intervening in gang conflicts, partnering with community leaders, and with the Mayor’s leadership the City will continue investing in prevention programs for at-risk youth. Yet, even with the best police and the best policing strategy in the world, without better state and federal laws to keep guns off the streets and out of the hands of dangerous criminals we’ll continue to face an uphill battle.”
CBS 2 security consultant Ross Rice said the weekend’s violence speaks to a larger problem.
“I think that is representative of the gang, drug, gun violence problem that still persists in Chicago,” Rice said. “It’s not a law enforcement problem solely. There’s not going to be a law enforcement solution to this. You can’t arrest your way out of gang violence.”
In addition to the other shootings, there were six police-involved shootings over the holiday weekend. Two of the people shot by police
Saturday evening, police responding to a call of shots fired near 87th and Morgan streets chased a 16-year-old boy into an alley near 87th and Sangamon. They found him hiding under a car. Police said, as he was getting out from under the vehicle, officers told him several times to drop his gun, but he refused, and officers shot him to defend themselves. The boy, Warren Robinson, was just three days shy of his 17th birthday.
His mother said her son was not armed, and police did not have to shoot him.
“They shot him over twenty times,” said the victim’s mother, Georgiana Utendahl. “They are trying to say he had a gun on him and he didn’t have a gun on him.”
Some witnesses claimed Robinson kept his hands in the air the entire time, but police said that’s just not true.
In the other fatal police-involved shooting, around 10 p.m. Friday in Portage Park, police received a call of a person with a gun near Berenice and Cicero avenues.
Fraternal Order of Police spokesman Pat Camden said officers saw something under the young man’s arm and tried to stop him when he pointed a large revolver at the officers.
“The officer defends himself, fires a shot. The offender his hit, manages to run down the alley a short distance before the officer’s partner is able to kind of head him of,” said Camden.
The 14-year-old boy, Pedro Rios, died from the shooting. No officers were hurt.
Three other people were wounded in police-involved shootings over the weekend. In another, police fired shots, but no one was struck.
CBS 2 security consultant Ross Rice said it’s more difficult than people think for officers in these types of situations.
“I think there’s a disconnect between people watching TV shows and watching movies; and it doesn’t translate into real life for them. They don’t realize that the police can’t shoot the gun out of your hand like they do in the westerns, or the police aren’t going to be able to wound you, or they can’t fire a warning shot,” Rice said. “It’s serious business.”
In a statement, the Chicago Police Department said, “Officers do not relish using a weapon in the course of their work, but … they must do what is best to protect themselves and the public they serve.”
No one was in custody for any of the shootings as of early Monday morning. The Independent Police Review Authority was investigating the police-involved shootings.

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