Aug 11, 2008 11:39 am US/Central
10 Dead, At Least 13 Wounded In Weekend Violence
CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) ―
Ten people were murdered and at least 13 wounded during a violent weekend in Chicago and the western suburbs.
Tracking Summer Shootings In ChicagoFriday night, two 19-year-old men were shot -- one fatally -- during a robbery in the South Side's Park Manor neighborhood. The men were shot at 7100 S. King Dr. about 10:28 p.m. Friday, according to Fire Media Affairs Asst. Director Eve Rodriguez.
One victim, later identified as Marshaun Melchor of 7056 S. Eberhart Ave. was dead on the scene with a gunshot wound to the face, according to police News Affairs Officer David Banks. The other man was taken in critical condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn with a gunshot wound to the chest, Rodriguez said.
It appears the people involved in the shooting were playing a dice game, according to Calumet Area detectives.
Early Saturday in west suburban Maywood, four men -- not believed to have any gang affiliations -- were gunned down while sitting in a parked car.
Police responded at 12:16 a.m. to a call of shots fired in the area of 19th and Harrison streets and found the four young men shot in a parked car, according to Maywood police.
They were taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood where three of them died from their wounds. The fourth man was in critical condition.
Kent Flowers, of the 1900 block of West Harrison Street in Maywood, Oscar Pritchett of the 1000 block of South 10th Avenue in Maywood and Devin Stokes of the 1200 block of South 16th Avenue in Maywood were all pronounced dead at Loyola. All three were 18, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.
A motive for the shootings is not known and Maywood police are conducting a homicide investigation.
A little more than an hour later, west of downtown Chicago, another man was fatally gunned down while driving on the Eisenhower Expressway.
About 1:40 a.m. Saturday, Illinois State Police responded to a shooting in the eastbound lanes of the expressway at South Morgan Street and found a Cadillac, which had crashed into the left concrete median.
Troopers noticed several bullet holes on the right side of the vehicle and found 26-year-old Antoine Fountain in the driver's seat suffering multiple gunshot wounds, according to ISP District Chicago Master Sgt. S. Nowak.
Fountain was taken to John Stroger Hospital where he later died, Nowak said.
A witness reported seeing a blue car and a white car driving alongside the Cadillac and shooting at its driver, Nowak said. Both vehicles fled the scene after the Cadillac struck the median.
Saturday afternoon, a woman was stabbed to death in a South Side motel.
Police responded to a domestic disturbance at 7621 S. Cottage Grove Ave. and found the woman dead, News Affairs Officer Laura Kubiak said.
A 70-year-old man who apparently had a "prostitute relationship" with Thomas is in custody for the murder Monday morning, according to a Calumet Area police sergeant. The man is not the woman's husband, according to the sergeant, who said as of 2 a.m. no charges had been approved.
An autopsy Sunday found Thomas died from a stab wound to the neck, and her death was ruled a homicide, the medical examiner's office said.
Calumet Area detectives are investigating.
Also on Saturday afternoon, a man attempting to drive his friend to the hospital following a gang-related shooting ended up crashing into a pole in the West Side's Lawndale neighborhood. The man who had been shot died upon arrival at the hospital.
The man was in a vehicle with his friend at 1506 S. Central Park Ave. about 1:30 p.m. when a group of men began firing shots into the car, Ogden District police said. He was shot four times and his friend began driving him to Mount Sinai Hospital.
The friend, who was in a hurry to get to the hospital, collided with another car at 3100 W. Ogden Ave., police said. He then lost control of the car and crashed into a light pole. No one was injured in the traffic crash.
Gregory Herndon, 38, died at Mount Sinai, a medical examiner's office spokesman said. Police said the shooting was gang related.
Early Sunday, two shooters fatally shot a man in the Ukrainian Village neighborhood on the Near West Side.
Jason Mueller, 29, of the 1500 block of North Wells Street, was shot near Wolcott and Grand avenues, a spokesman for the medical examiner's office said. Mueller was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital at 6:23 a.m.
A witness told police they heard three shots just before 6 a.m., looked out of their home window and saw the man lying on the street, police said.
Two offenders were seen walking southbound on Wolcott, police said.
On Sunday night, the badly burned body of a man was found in the trunk of a vehicle on fire in a secluded area in the Far South Side's Riverdale neighborhood.
Emergency crews responded to the 1000 block of East 130th Street at 8:37 p.m. for reports of a vehicle on fire, according to police News Affairs.
While the flames were being extinguished, firefighters discovered charred human remains in the trunk, police said. The body was that of a man and the vehicle was in a secluded prairie-like area, according to police.
The medical examiner's office said they received a "badly charred" body found in the trunk of a vehicle. The man's identity has not been determined.
Calumet Area detectives are investigating.
Also on Saturday night, a man was fatally shot in the South Side Hamilton Park neighborhood after several people in a group began fighting and one man opened fire.
The 24-year-old man was standing with a group on the corner of West 79th and South Aberdeen streets about 10:15 p.m. when several people within the group began fighting. One man pulled out a gun and fired multiple times, striking the victim several times, police News Affairs Officer Laura Kubiak said.
Jamel Houston of 12000 block of South State Street was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital at 12:33 a.m., according to the medical examiner's office.
The man was shot 11 times on multiple areas of his body, according to Gresham District police, who said the shooting happened at 7956 S. Aberdeen. No one else was injured.
Calumet Area detectives are investigating and said no one was in custody early Monday.
Aside from the murders, at least 13 other people were wounded in gun violence in Chicago and the western suburbs Friday through Sunday.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2009. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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