Concerned Citizens of Chatham: Shooting on 84th/King Drive

[VIDEO] This incident already makes this the 11th homicide and 10th fatal shooting of 2013. It happened right in the Chatham neighborhood and Worlee shared a statement from a local leader - Rev. Dr. Marc Robertson:

Tragedy has hit the heart of our community once again. This evening as I was coming home. I saw police cars everywhere within the blocks of 84th and 85th street and King Drive on the west side of the street. As I got closer, I pulled over and noticed a young boy lying dead in the front yard of someone's home. An eyewitness told me that the kid who shot the other kid then jumped on the bus going North bound on King Drive. My people! When will this madness stop? I will be the first to say that this is a direct result of the dysfunction within our homes and young boys growing up fatherless. Wake up !!! This happened around 7:00 p.m, Sunday, January 5, 2013. This is the introduction of what to expect this summer in our community? We must learn to work together and get rid of egos, insecurities, jealousy and envy because our community is falling a part.

A 19-year-old young man cut down near 84th & King Drive. The fact that this happened is utterly shocking! I wonder if Rev. Robertson's comments is point the fingers at the leaders of our communities. He must be asking for direction & communication.

2 shot at gang funeral: 'This is crazy'

This shooting is more disturbing than most as it happened during a funeral, near a church. The presiding minister for the funeral was Pastor Corey Brooks of New Beginnings Church. He is the pastor who made national news by camping out on the roof of an abandoned motel, and was abel to purchase and demolish it through that campaign.

The following is from the Chicago Tribune's news blog: Chicago Breaking News.

2 shot at gang funeral: 'This is crazy'

Tribune: Three shot in Park Manor

Armando L. Sanchez, Chicago Tribune / October 1, 2012

3 shot on South Side

The three were shot and seriously wounded in the 500 block of East 71st Street at about 5 p.m., according to the Chicago Fire Department.

Two victims were taken by ambulance to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County while one was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, according to the fire department.

Police officials did not have any information available.

Concerned Citizens Of Chatham : How to Keep the "Terror Town" Violence From Spreading: Zero Tolerance

My recent post from Chicago Now

Just hours after the end of Peace in the Park After Dark, and an afternoon where several groups were doing their back to school rallies and parties, the "Terror Town" violence found its way to my community. These beefs between posse's with multiple gang affiliations are out of control and have found their way out of the far southeast side and moving to other communities throughout the southside. This past Friday night was one of the most violent http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-woman-teen-wounded-in-east-chatham-shooting-20120824,0,5211283.story . Then Saturday afternoon violence erupted again http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-3-reported-shot-in-chatham-20120825,0,1971776.story.

The terror town retaliations are out of control and have to be stopped. I wrote a blog post last year and here is an excerpt I have called for allowing the Chicago Police Department to institute a Zero Tolerance Policy. Many have said "be careful for what you wish for because you might just get it", but at this point the Chicago Police Department, Roderick Sawyer, Alderman of the 6th ward, Chatham area community based organizations and concerned citizens have to make a strong statement. "NOT HERE AND NOT ON MY BLOCK". Over the past several years their have been some high profile incidents and the fact is the perpetrators are coming into or through the Chatham community. This must stop, the fear of being arrested must be put on the minds of those who think they can run through and pillage and Chatham is not a "hangout" spot. Some will say that zero tolerance will not work, will cost the city money settling lawsuits and violates civil rights. But I ask them do you want to be political correct or safe? The zero tolerance and once we stand up and say I'm sick and tired of this $@^%!, then and only then will the senseless violence stop.

The complete post at  http://www.chicagonow.com/concerned-citizens-of-chatham/2012/08/how-to-stop-the-terror-town-violence-from-spreading-zero-tolererance/

Authorities: 2 dead, 1 wounded in Chatham shooting

An shooting at 79th & ST. Lawrence has left 1 dead and 2 injured. And this happened in broad daylight.

From Chicago Breaking News:

Two assailants wearing masks opened fire this afternoon leaving two people dead and a 17-year-old girl hospitalized in serious condition in the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side.

The shooting happened about 1:15 p.m. in the 7900 block of South St. Lawrence Avenue, fire and police officials said.

Two men wearing masks shot three people: a 20-year-old man who was dead on the scene, a 17-year-old girl in the lower back, and an 18-year-old man in the leg and lower arm, according to police.

Christopher Spraggins, 20, of 348 E. 76th St., was pronounced dead on the scene while the male in his late teens was pronounced dead at 2:14 p.m. at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Police said the teen girl was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center, where, according to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Kevin MacGregor, she was in serious condition.

The gunmen ran eastbound after the shooting and fled into a car, police said.

No arrests have been made this evening, according to police News Affairs Officer Daniel O'Brien.

Four people were killed and at least 14 wounded in shootings in Chicago between 4:15 p.m. Friday and early Saturday morning.'

Authorities: 2 dead, 1 wounded in Chatham shooting

...And from our Facebook page:

Jan M. Hooks My nephew was the young man who was killed. Please keep his family and those who were wounded in your thoughts and prayers. We need to do something about the violence in this city and especially on the south side of Chicago

Ms. Hooks also added that there was another shooting a few hours later at 79th and Prairie.

My wife read this news, and stated to me that she wants to leave Chatham at our first opportunity. How do we combat the fear that drives away good citizens?

2 shot near Deneen elementary school

Chicago Breaking News (from the Chicago Tribune) reports this story:

3:34 p.m. CDT, August 22, 2012

Two people were taken to a hospital in good condition today after being shot on the South Side near an elementary school.

The shooting happened on the 7200 block of South State Street at about 3 p.m., according to Chicago Fire Department officials.

The victims were both taken to St. Bernard Hospital in good condition after receiving basic life support, fire officials said.

Chicago police were on the scene of the shooting and did not have any further information.

The shooting occurred near Deneen Elementary school, 7257 S. State St.

If you've been to State Street, you know there are definitely suspicious individuals that walk up and down that strip of stores nearby.  I am sure they have driven away much business, making the arrea even worse.  (The owner of Chan's Chinese thinks of my family as a breath of fresh air compared to some customers)


Hopefully changes can be made to make the area more vibrant and less attractive to gangbangers and loiterers.
Here's the link to the story.


2 shot near South Side elementary school

CBS Chicago: Man Shot At 95th Street Red Line Terminal

95th CTA Red Line terminal

How could I have missed this? This pic to the left is from CBS Chicago:

The busy 95th Street CTA Red Line terminal on the city’s South Side turned into a crime scene overnight.

Ninety-fifth Street is the last stop on the Red Line, and it was the scene of a shooting just before midnight Monday night.

A 36-year-old man was shot in the buttocks. He was reported in stable condition at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

For those of you on the night shifts riding the L, I hope you all are being very careful! Stay safe!

Hat-tip Chicago-L.org!

Assailant misses off-duty cop, hits friend in Chatham neighborhood

From Chicago Breaking News

An off-duty Chicago police officer managed to avoid being hit by gunfire in the Chatham neighborhood early this morning but a friend with him was hit, police said.

The two were outside a residence in the 7500 block of South Wabash Avenue about 2:20 a.m. when a gunman opened fire on the pair, said Police Officer Amina Greer, citing preliminary information.

The officer returned fire but missed, Greer said.

For the rest of the story...  Assailant misses off-duty cop, hits friend in Chatham neighborhood

As of 7:35am this morning, police were still on the scene, with tape up

Woman shot in chest near CTA station - The SouthtownStar

Woman shot in chest near CTA station - The SouthtownStar

The shooting happened about 2:30 a.m. in the 9500 block of South State Street, near the 95th Street/Dan Ryan station on the CTA's Red Line, police officer Hector Alfaro said.

The woman was found on the street with a gunshot wound to the chest and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Alfaro said.

No information about her condition was available. No one was in custody.

Calumet Area detectives are investigating.

Happened very early this morning. Still even though this was in the evening this was very unsettling.

More about that shooting from Tuesday...

I blogged about on Thursday. I basically railed against the mentioning of Harlan with a certain amount of context. Students from Harlan got shot in this incident near 100th & Michigan. Of course other than the blurb from EveryBlock that included Harlan's address. A young man from another city school died of his wounds and the Tribune wrote more about this incident:

Relatives remember Jeremy Harris as always smiling, always respectful.

So they can't understand why someone gunned down the 17-year-old not far from his Roseland neighborhood home.

"He was my favorite little cousin," said LaRhonda Harris, 33. "When I used to drive past, he used to always stop me just to ask me where I was going. And then once I'd tell him I'm going to the store, or somewhere, he'd say, 'OK, you can keep going.' ''

So the other three teens who were shot (four were shot) attended Harlan according to this story. Harris  still had a Harlan connection however even though he attended another school.

Harris was a sophomore at Wendell Phillips Career Academy High School, 244 E. Pershing Rd., said Monique Bond, a Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman. She said the other teens attended Harlan Community Academy High School, 9652 S. Michigan Ave., a few blocks north from the shooting.

Harris briefly attended Harlan, where he had joined the ROTC, according to his family, who added that he has two older brothers and two older sisters. 

Let's hope the criminals who committed this crime are caught and convicted!

Shooting (and death) on 79th & St. Lawrence

Just saw this on the Tribune's Chicago Breaking News site

A 23-year-old man who was shot in the head and neck Wednesday night on the South Side in the city's Chatham neighborhood has died from his injuries.

Officers and paramedics responded about 8 p.m. to the 600 block of East 79th Street and found the man with gunshot wounds to his neck and head, police said.

Preliminary reports said the man was approached by two male suspects, one on foot and the other was riding a bicycle. The person riding the bicycle fired shots, striking the victim. Both suspects fled northbound from the scene, police said.

The victim was taken to Stroger Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

No one was in custody for the shooting. Calumet Area detectives were investigating.

As scary as this is...we NEED to ALL walk the streets. The more we're out there (and not alone), the more we can save our neighborhood.

19-year-old woman shot in Chatham on Saturday

From a CBS 2 report with regards to a number of violent incidents from over the weekend:

At 6:41 p.m. Saturday, a 19-year-old woman was talking with a friend in the 700 block of East 80th Street when she was shot in the left foot, police said.

Four shot in related drive-by shootings on South Side

Found this story via our Blotter:

A 21-year-old man sustained a gunshot wound to his stomach about 10:15 p.m. near the intersection of 95th Street and South State Street, according to police News Affairs Officer Ronald Gaines. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in good condition,

A short time later near the intersection of East 95th Street and South Michigan Avenue, two men and a woman were also shot, Gaines said.

An 18-year-old man was shot in the left leg, a 19-year-old man was shot in the left thigh and a 19-year-old woman was shot in the right foot, according to a News Affairs release.

All are in good condition and they apparently drove themselves to Advocate Trinity Hospital, Gaines said.

This is a little too close to home! I hope we find out who was doing the shooting. I also hope they're actually caught and convicted!

Teen shot during robbery on South Side

Sun-Times:

A 16-year-old boy was shot in the leg during a robbery Friday night in the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side.

The teen was shot while he was being robbed about 9p.m. in the 600 block of East 85th Street, according to police News Affairs. He sustained a gunshot wound to his leg.

He was listed in good condition at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn early Saturday, police said.

The suspect fled the scene.

You know there was a Sun-Times story on why they won't stop shooting. It appears that unless there was a murder, there is rarely a conviction in shootings like this!

I just had to include a Google street view of the 600 block of East 85th St. It's right across from Cole Park Brown Memorial Park. On this same block is John T. Pirie Elementary School! One wouldn't expect this act there would they?

View Larger Map

17-year-old shot in Park Manor

From Chicago Breaking News where this was one incident of many shootings overnight from the holiday!

About 9:15 p.m. Sunday night, police said a 17-year-old boy was shot in the 7400 block of South Vernon Avenue in the Park Manor neighborhood on the South Side. Police found the teen with two gunshot wounds to his left leg. He was taken in good condition to St. Bernard Hospital and Health Care Center. Preliminary reports said the boy was walking down the street when he heard shots and felt pain in his legs.

Chatham Unity Day at Cole Park

COLE PARK

Off-duty cop wounded during apparent armed robbery

From the Sun Times

An off-duty Chicago Police officer was shot late Wednesday during an apparent armed robbery, police said. Two other people were reportedly wounded.

The off-duty officer was shot about 10:30 p.m. in the 8400 block of South King Drive, police said. The shooting appears to be an armed robbery.

Chicago Police requested State Police assistance in locating the maroon Nissan Maxima involved in the shooting. The car was last seen heading northbound on the Dan Ryan Expressway (I-94), Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Anthony Hoop said.

He said three people were wounded in the shooting.


The gunman fled in the car westbound on 83rd Street, where it entered the northbound lanes of the Dan Ryan Expressway, Hoop said.

State Police notified their units, but have yet to spot a matching vehicle as of 11:30 p.m., Hoop said.

Read the entire story at http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/2295786,off-duty-cop-hurt-police-shooting-051910.article

Chatham residents team up against violence

Rims locked at Cole Park by José M. Osorio, Chicago Tribune / May 10, 2010

Tribune:

Chatham residents fondly remember the fierce competition at Cole Park that at times drew some of the best local talent for pickup games.

The park, tucked among the neighborhood's tidy streets, was also a place for local kids to shoot hoops — and maybe dream of one day being that good.

Then on a spring evening last month, a gunman fired into a crowd of teens playing on the court, wounding two young men. One was hit in the calf and hip; the other in the neck.

It was the second shooting on the courts in four weeks. By that night, the basketball rims at the celebrated courts had been disabled with locks or taken down altogether, on orders of Ald. Freddrenna Lyle, 6th, who said it was simply too unsafe to play there.

Lyle has promised to leave things that way until there's more security. She's turned to the Park District and police for help.

The loss of the courts has disappointed many residents who say kids need a place to play. At the same time, the shootings illustrate a deeper concern in Chatham — how this neighborhood that prides itself on its middle-class values will stem brewing violence.

"It's starting to feel like it's expected in this community," Tom Wortham, 30, president of the Cole Park advisory council whose grandfather built a home across from the park 50 years ago, said of the violence. "When people think of the South Side of Chicago, they think violence. In Chatham, that's not what we see. It's happened, and we're going to fix it, so it doesn't happen again."

Read the whole thing! Apparently before these unfortunate shootings this park was full of activity in addition to basketball. Lately the violence in the Chatham community has started to become a problem. What can we do about it!

Man shot while standing on porch dies

Another crime story from yesterday's Chicago Sun-Times...

Man shot while standing on porch dies :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Chicago Crime

A man was standing outside on a porch early Wednesday when he was shot multiple times in the South Side Chatham neighborhood and later died, police said.

At 1:04 a.m., a 27-year-old man was standing on a porch in the 600 block of East 92nd Place, when a suspect approached him and fired, striking him multiple times, according to a release from police News Affairs.

The man was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn where he later died, the release said.

Police did not release any further information on the suspect and no one was in custody as of 5:30 a.m.

Calumet Area Detectives are investigating.

This particular story was of interest, as i lived on the 500 block of E. 92nd street for several months in 2006-2007.

The neighborhood had a lot of children and youth. They were especially friendly to my daughter. We were there in the months during and surrounding the winter season, so we missed much of this type of action.

I would personally encourage churches in the area (such as Burnside Baptist and St. Phillips Community Church, who have shown a desire to reach out into their neighborhood) to send out ministers and lay leaders to simply walk the streets, and get to know people, especially the youth.

Our community doesn't have to be taken over by this violence -- there a lot of good people out there who can make a difference, even a small one...

Suspect charged in Chatham police shooting

Here are the lead paragraphs

A motorist who pointed a handgun at officers prompting police to fire shots at him has been charged after the Tuesday night incident in the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side.

Derrick Thornton, 24, of the 9400 block of South Forest Avenue, was charged with aggravated assault to a police officer with a firearm and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon on a person, according to a release from police News Affairs. He was also issued a citation for going the wrong way on a one-way street, the release said.

Follow the link below to read the rest of the story

Suspect charged in Chatham police shooting :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Chicago Crime