Apr 19, 2008 10:08 pm US/Central
Bloody Weekend: At Least 21 Shot, 4 Dead
But Police Point Out Shootings, Murders Down So Far In 2008
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
-
-
A crowd gathers as police secure the scene where two teens were shot dead in the South Shore neighborhood late Friday. It was one of nearly 20 shootings in the city in just 12 hours.
CBS
It's been an especially violent weekend. At least four people are dead – 21 of them shot on the streets of Chicago.
CBS 2's Susan Carlson reports on how police are increasing patrols and communities stepping up.
Police say most of the shootings that took place between Friday night and Saturday morning were gang-related. The shootings sent more than a dozen to area hospitals and four to the county morgue. Nine of the shootings happened in a period of less than two hours on Friday night.
The latest shooting happened about 11:30 a.m. Saturday on the city's South Side. A 28-year-old man is in critical condition after being shot in the 2500 block of West 59th.
In another case, a suspect toting an AK-47 has been arrested after allegedly killing a man and shooting at police.
It's amazing no one was hurt during a shootout between officers and a suspect firing the assault rifle. Police say the gunman opened fire on them Friday night at 110th and South Union. They tracked him down after he allegedly shot and killed 34-year-old Marcus Hendricks inside a plumbing business a few blocks away.
The 34-year-old from Flossmoor died after being shot just blocks from a police-involved shooting on the Far South Side. He died at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn at 8 p.m., a Cook County Medical Examiner's office spokesman said.
"All I could say is he's a nice guy," said neighbor Amos Williams.
The recent gunfire has rattled nerves throughout the Roseland neighborhood.
"It's not that all the area, all the streets are bad," Williams said. "It's that you get bad elements coming through your street."
"My son is in 8th grade, about to go to high school. As a parent, I'm very concerned," said neighbor Charles Thomas.
Also, Friday night, two teens were gunned down in front of a church in the 7500 block of South Phillips.
Police say gunmen jumped out of a car and opened fire in front of the Free Salvation Methodist Baptist Church. One of the teens suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and back, the other was shot in the neck, police said.
Melvin Thomas, of 14922 Washington Ave. in Harvey was pronounced dead at the Stein Institute at 1:20 a.m. Rhonell Savala, of 9750 S. Hoxie Ave. in Chicago, was pronounced dead at 12:50 a.m. Saturday at the Stein Institute.
"I was in my house and my friend came and got me and he said two boys was laying outside on the stairs...dead," said neighbor Tamara Roberson.
Flowers and teddy bears now serve as a memorial to 18-year-olds, Thomas and Savala.
"I live just a block away on 77th, kids were still outside," Roberson said.
"To put the shooting in perspective, you have to consider this was a 17-hour window," said Chicago Police spokesperson Monique Bond about the number of shootings.
Chicago police are now stepping up patrols in areas that they call "hot zones." Police blame the warmer temperatures for the spike in violence.
"We know that we're approaching warmer weather, the summer season. We know that this is going to be a very busy season for the Chicago Police Department. There's no doubt about that," Bond said.
Chicago Police have also recently started using helicopter patrols to try to curb gang violence. Choppers will be flying over areas prone to gang activity, especially on weekends when more shootings seem to occur.
Other shootings included, a 65-year-old man being shot dead outside his home on the Southeast Side during an attempted robbery.
Ricardo Sanchez of 8439 S. Exchange Ave. was pronounced dead at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to the Medical Examiner's office.
In most of the other shootings, the injuries were less serious, but the violence affected nearly every part of the city.
A 19-year-old man was driving down the street in the South Side's Back-of-the-Yards neighborhood around 9:30 p.m. Saturday when shots were fired at his vehicle and he was hit in the chest, authorities said. The incident happened in the 5500 block of South Wolcott Avenue, police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli said.
The man was driving when someone opened fire on the vehicle, striking him in the right side of his chest, according to Fire Media Affairs Chief Joe Roccasalva. The man was taken to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County in serious to critical condition, Roccasalva said.
The shooter was not in police custody as of 10 p.m., Mirabelli said.
In the Southeast Side's South Chicago neighborhood, two men suffered non-life-threatening gunshot wounds after hearing shots fired.
About 8:15 p.m., the two men, aged 25 and 24, were driving south on the 8200 block of South Muskegon Avenue, when they heard shots fired, police said. The men realized they had been hit, and drove themselves to Jackson Park Hospital, police News Affairs Officer David Banks said. Their injuries are not considered to be life-threatening.
At 9:30 p.m., three teens were shot near 70th and Wood streets in the West Englewood neighborhood. A 17-year-old was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in critical condition from the Wood Street shooting, Langford said. A 16-year-old and 15-year-old in an unknown condition were also taken to either Christ or Holy Cross Hospital.
At 9:39 p.m., a 32-year-old man was shot in the 6400 block of South Morgan Street in the Englewood neighborhood, Langford said. The man was shot in the leg and hospital information was not immediately available.
At 9:42 p.m., a person was shot in the knee in the 11200 block of South State Street in the Roseland neighborhood, Langford said. The person was taken to Roseland Community Hospital in an unknown condition.
Shortly before midnight, two teenage boys were shot, again in the West Englewood neighborhood.
The boys, one 16-year-old and one 15-year-old, were shot in their legs at 6330 S. Damen Ave around 11:45 p.m.., Langford said. Both teens were taken to Holy Cross Hospital with non life-threatening injuries, Langford said.
And about 1:30 a.m., a robbery victim was shot on the 7900 block of South St. Lawrence Avenue. The robber demanded money from the victim, police said. The victim ran away, but not before the robber got off one shot.
But the South Side was not the only area affected by the rash of violence overnight. Shootings were also reported on the North and West sides.
In the 1000 block of West Sunnyside Avenue in the Uptown neighborhood, a man was shot in his upper thigh around 11:35 p.m., a Town Hall District officer said. The officer said the victim was not cooperating with police, and there were several conflicting stories about the shooting.
On the Southwest Side, a man riding in a car in the 5100 block of South Christiana Avenue was wounded when someone fired shots inside around 10:45 p.m. The man, believed to be in his 30s, was shot in his left arm and taken in good condition to Holy Cross Hospital, Banks said.
On the West Side, a man was shot multiple times and critically wounded in the wee hours of the morning. The man was shot in the 700 block of North Drake Avenue just after 1:45 a.m., and taken in critical condition to Mount Sinai Hospital, Banks said.
Also on the West Side, 21-year-old man was in good condition early Saturday after he was shot in the right leg on the 4400 block of West Adams Street. The man was standing there abut 2:35 a.m. when someone in a passing car fired shots at him, police said.
Police had not reported anyone in custody in any of the shootings as of midday Saturday.
In broad daylight Friday, two teenage girls were shot in the thigh in separate incidents on the Southeast and Southwest sides.
In the first incident, a girl was shot and wounded in the arm in the 2700 block of West 66th Street. A Chicago Lawn District sergeant indicated that another person was also shot in the incident.
In the second incident, a 15-year-old girl was shot in the thigh in the 8700 block of South Euclid Avenue.
Just two blocks from the scene of the first shooting where a girl was wounded, a man was shot at 5:40 p.m., police said. He was wounded in the 2700 block of West 64th Street and taken to Holy Cross Hospital in an unknown condition.
And around 6:30 p.m., a teenage boy was shot in the 6000 block of South Campbell Avenue. He was taken to the University of Chicago's Comer Children's Hospital in serious condition, police said.
Police: Shootings Down In 2008 Only hours before the rash of shootings happened, police touted that murders and shootings were down through the first three months of 2008.
From January through March, murders decreased 1.1 percent and aggravated batteries decreased 0.8 percent, according to a release Friday from police. Criminal sexual assaults were down 13.9 percent, the release said. Robberies were up 16.3 percent in that time period. Overall crime was up 1.9 percent, though. The Harrison District on the West Side had the largest decrease compared to the same period last year, the release said, with an overall reduction in crime of 16.1 percent.
Since the beginning of the year through March, 70 percent of the murder victims had prior arrest records and 97 percent of the offenders had prior arrest records, according to police. Approximately 81 percent of the murders involved firearms, with the most common motive being something gang-related. Almost 30 percent of the murders were gang-related, the release said.
That was the first quarter of 2008. The next three months may be different if this past week is any indication.
From Monday, April 14 through early Saturday, there had been at least 35 shootings in the city, and at least six of those shootings turned out to be fatal.
The STNG Wire contributed to this report.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
The Tattooed Ladies of Hollywood
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
