Blacks and Hispanics are killing each other in Chicago
Fourth of July weekend shootings have left nine people dead —
including a 7-year-old boy — and at least 44 others injured since
Thursday evening.
Seven-year-old Amari Brown was killed in a shooting that
also left a 26-year-old woman wounded late Saturday in the Humboldt Park
neighborhood.
Amari, who lived in the 500 block of North Drake, was taken
to Stroger Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 1:56 a.m., according
to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Police said Sunday the bullet that fatally wounded
7-year-old Amari Brown on the Fourth of July was meant for his father.
Both Amari and the 26-year-old woman were shot at 11:55 p.m. in the 1100
block of North Harding, police said.
“It’s crazy. Like who would shoot a 7-year-old? He got shot
in the chest. Who would do that? To a baby?” Amari’s grandmother,
52-year-old Vida Hailey asked as she waited for news outside Stroger.
“All the kids that are getting killed out here – it’s crazy. When is it
going to stop?”
The 26-year-old woman was shot in the chest and taken to Stroger, where her condition stabilized.
In the most recent fatal shooting, a 48-year-old man was
killed in a Sunday afternoon shooting in the Calumet Heights
neighborhood.
Anthony Strong was shot in the right chest about 4:55 p.m. in the 9200 block of South Harper, police said.
Strong, who lived where he was shot, was taken to Christ
Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead at 6:06
p.m., the medical examiner’s office said.
Police added that a “person of interest” is in custody.
Earlier, two brothers from Missouri died Sunday morning
after shots were fired at an SUV in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood on
the South Side.
John Hunter, 25, and his 31-year-old brother Willie Hunter
were sitting inside a Chevrolet SUV about 6:10 a.m. in the 8800 block of
South Bishop, when another male walked up and opened fire, according to
police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
The SUV — driven by the younger brother — sped away, but
then crashed into a building in the 1600 block of West 89th, authorities
said.
John Hunter, of the 300 block of East Ashley Street in
Jefferson City, Missouri, suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the body.
He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was
pronounced dead at 7 a.m., authorities said.
Willie Hunter, of the 1200 block of East High Street in
Jefferson City, was discovered unresponsive in the vehicle and was
pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.
It was not immediately known whether the older brother died
from gunshot wounds or injuries suffered in the crash. An autopsy was
scheduled for Monday.
Earlier Sunday, a man was killed in a shooting that left two
others wounded in the Northwest Side Albany Park neighborhood early
Sunday.
Jeremy Spivey, 23, and the two others were sitting inside a
van in an alley near Sunnyside and Kimball about 2:30 a.m. when a male
walked up and fired shots, authorities said.
Spivey, of the 4700 block of West Belmont, was shot multiple
times and taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he
was pronounced dead at 4:03 a.m., authorities said.
A 17-year-old boy was shot in the right leg and taken to
Masonic, where his condition was stabilized. A 26-year-old woman was
shot in the right finger and was being treated at Swedish Covenant
Hospital, police said.
Relatives of the 17-year-old, who live near the shooting,
said they spent the day barbecuing and watching fireworks for the Fourth
of July. A female relative said she had heard gunshots around their
home between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., then again at 10 p.m.
She took her family inside just five minutes before the
shooting. She and her children said they heard about seven gunshots but
didn’t think anything of it until they heard ambulances pull up.
A police source said all the victims are documented gang members.
About an hour and a half earlier, a man was shot to death in the South Shore neighborhood.
The 26-year-old man was sitting in his car in the 7700 block
of South South Shore Drive about 1 a.m. when someone walked up and
fired shots into the car, police said.
He was taken to South Shore Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
Police said the shooting is possibly gang-related.
A 17-year-old boy was shot to death Friday afternoon in a
Bronzeville neighborhood park named after slain King College Prep
student Hadiya Pendleton.
The teen — identified by authorities as Vonzell Banks of the
4500 block of South Prairie — and a 19-year-old man were standing
outside Hadiya Pendleton Park in the 4300 block of South King about 4:45
p.m., when a vehicle approached and someone inside opened fire, police
said.
Banks, a Dunbar Vocational High School junior, was playing
basketball with his older brother, Vinny, and some friends when he was
shot, his aunt, LaShanda Childs, told the Chicago Sun-Times.
“He was a loving child, getting ready to be a senior at high
school,” Childs said. “He was going to start a summer job on Monday. He
was very excited about it.”
Like Pendleton — in whose honor the park was renamed just
two months ago — Banks was shot in the back. He was taken to Stroger
Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:31 p.m., according to police
and the medical examiner’s office.
The man was shot in the right foot and was taken to the
University of Chicago Medical Center, where his condition was
stabilized.
Police said Banks and the 19-year-old were likely not the intended targets of the shooting.
Earlier Friday, a man was killed and a woman was wounded in a
South Side Washington Heights neighborhood drive-by shooting on the
South Side.
The two were walking in the alley in the 9100 block of South
Ashland about 1:20 a.m. when someone in a passing white van opened
fire, police said.
Grover Tate, 47, of the 1500 block of West 95th Street, was
shot in the head and was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.
The woman, 43, was shot in the abdomen and buttocks and was
taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where her condition
had stabilized, police said.
A 26-year-old man was killed in the same block he lived in
just after midnight Friday in the South Side Back of the Yards
neighborhood.
The man, identified as Jose Hernandez, was sitting on a
porch at 12:05 a.m. in the 4800 block of South Justine when another male
walked up and shot him in the back, authorities said.
He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later, the medical examiner’s office said.
An officer at the scene said the shooting — the second on
that block in about nine hours — may have stemmed from a conflict
involving the La Raza street gang. Neighbors said they heard about four
to six gunshots.
“We were all in the kitchen you know, having bonding, family
time, and this happens,” said 15-year-old Jocelyn Avila, who lives on
the block and also heard gunshots from the other shooting at 3 p.m.
Thursday.
The weekend’s first homicide happened Thursday evening in the Little Village neighborhood on the Southwest Side.
About 6:25 p.m., Joseph Gutierrez was riding a bicycle in
the 2700 block of South Karlov when a gunman ran up and shot him
repeatedly in the upper body, authorities said.
Gutierrez, of the 6200 block of South Kenneth, was taken to
Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 9:06 p.m., the
medical examiner’s office said. Police said the shooting may have been
gang-related.
On Saturday night, a man was shot in Streeterville shortly after the Navy Pier fireworks show.
The 19-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen
at 10:06 p.m. in the 200 block of East Ohio, according to police and
fire officials. He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in
serious-to-critical condition, fire officials said.
A possible shooter was taken into custody and a weapon was recovered at the scene.
Source: http://chicago.suntimes.com
