Tag Archives: homicide

Police investigating homicide in Wheaton, seek victim’s car

(WHEATON) The death of a 58-year-old Wheaton woman was being investigated as a homicide on Sunday by authorities in the west suburb.

Officers were called about 6:45 p.m. on Saturday to the 1300 block of Woodcutter Lane and found Erin C. Leinweber dead, according to Wheaton police. Her cause of death was not released Sunday and a person of interest was in custody.

The DuPage County sheriff’s department said they were assisting Wheaton police with a homicide investigation. Leinweber’s death was believed to be an isolated incident.

Investigators were trying to locate two vehicles that may be connected to the case, police said. Leinweber’s vehicle was described as a red, 2009 Kia Spectra with Illinois license plate V264403. The vehicle may have a Hillary Clinton sticker on the rear of the vehicle.

A second vehicle, a beige 2000 Toyota Camry with Illinois license plate Z810380, was also being sought by authorities.

Anyone with information was asked to contact police at (630) 260-2073.

Chicago goes 4 days without fatal shooting

(CHICAGO) For the first time in 2016, the city of Chicago has gone four full days without a fatal shooting.

The last fatal shooting in the city occurred at 12:52 a.m. Sunday, when Joel Planas was shot during a fight in the Albany Park neighborhood on the Northwest Side.

Planas, 34, was involved in a fight with another man on a sidewalk in the 3100 block of West Irving Park Road, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The other man pulled out a gun and fired shots, striking him in the abdomen, authorities said. Planas died about five hours later at Illinois Masonic Medical Center.

No fatal shootings were reported from Sunday morning through early Thursday, with 12:52 a.m. Thursday marking four full days without a gun-related death.

The only homicide during that period was the fatal stabbing of a 58-year-old man at 7:37 p.m. Monday in the North Kenwood neighborhood. The victim’s name had not been released as of Wednesday night.

Previously, the longest period of time without a fatal shooting was just over 81 hours—3 days, 9 hours and 23 minutes—in late April. Glenn Wheeler was shot at 4:37 p.m. April 26 in Back of the Yards and died about 90 minutes later. Lamar Watson was shot at 2 a.m. April 30 in North Lawndale and died 4 1/2 hours later at a hospital, according to authorities.

So far in 2016, there have been at least 765 homicides in the city, including 11 people who died this year after being shot, stabbed or assaulted in previous years. Of those homicides, at least 691 were gun-related, according to Chicago Sun-Times records.

Chicago responsible for rise in U.S. murder rate

John Dempsey, WLS-AM 890 News
(CHICAGO) A new study says the U.S. murder rate is projected to rise by about 13% this year, but almost half of that increase is because of violence in Chicago.
Time Magazine says the study is from New York University’s Brennan Center.   It projects that while crime overall in 2016 has remained virtually unchanged from last year, the murder rate is expected to rise 13.1% thanks to unprecedented violence in Chicago, which has seen more than 500 murders this year alone.
The study says Chicago is the only major U.S. city to report an increase in murders in both 2015 and 2016.
Despite crime increases in a handful of cities, violence across the U.S. remains near 30-year lows. The report found that a dozen cities, including San Francisco, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Washington D.C., have seen crime dip in 2016.

Police: 13 killed, 52 wounded in Labor Day weekend shootings

(CHICAGO) Thirteen people were killed and at least 52 others, including a pregnant woman, were wounded in shootings across Chicago over Labor Day weekend, according to Chicago Police.

The latest homicide happened about 10:45 p.m. Monday in the Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side. A group was standing on the sidewalk in the 2700 block of West Lexington when someone in a silver minivan opened fire, police said. A 22-year-old man was shot in the chest and taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Another 22-year-old man suffered gunshot wounds to the chest and thigh and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was also pronounced dead.

Three other people were also shot and taken to Mount Sinai, police said. A 16-year-old boy was shot in the chest and listed in critical condition; a 17-year-old boy suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and was seriously wounded; and a 20-year-old man was shot in the right arm and buttocks and was also listed in serious condition.

Earlier Monday evening, two men were killed in a shooting near Ogden Park in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side. About 7:15 p.m., a 47-year-old man was walking his dog in the 1200 block of West Marquette when someone in a vehicle started shooting, striking him in the chest, police said. The shots also struck a 24-year-old man in the chest as he ran away from the gunfire. Both men were taken to Stroger Hospital, where they later died, police said. It was unclear if either of the victims were intended targets.

The Cook County medical examiner’s office did not immediately confirm those fatalities early Tuesday.

About 30 minutes earlier in the same neighborhood, a light-colored car pulled up to a man in the 900 block of West 58th Street about 6:45 p.m., and someone inside it shot him in the back. The man, thought to be between 18 and 25, was taken to St. Bernard Hospital, where he later died, police said. Authorities have not released his name.

About 4 p.m. in Back of the Yards on the South Side, Albertano Medrano was driving in the 4500 block of South Hermitage when three people in a white van began to harass him, authorities said. Medrano kept driving away, and one of the passengers in the white van opened fire, striking him in the head, neck and back. His vehicle then crashed into three other vehicles after he was shot. Medrano, who lived in the 1800 block of West 46th Street, was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4:30 p.m., police and the medical examiner’s office said.

Hours earlier in the Brighton Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side, the roommates of a 22-year-old Enrique D. Morales found him dead about 1:30 p.m. on their driveway in the 4500 block of South Whipple, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Morales was shot in the chest and was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:45 p.m. Area Central detectives were conducting a homicide investigation.

Monday morning, a man was killed and another wounded in more Englewood violence. David Baldwin, 24, was shot in the head about 9:30 a.m. in the 6800 block of South Emerald and taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died at 2:58 p.m., authorities said. He lived in the 1100 block of West 67th Street. Another man, 26, was shot in the thigh and grazed across the face. His condition was stabilized at Stroger Hospital, but he was uncooperative with investigators, police said.

About 6:20 a.m. in the South Shore neighborhood, someone walked up to an 80-year-old man in the 2800 block of East 77th Place, exchanged words with the elderly man and then shot him in the face. He died at the scene, according to police, who said the shooter was arrested with charges pending Monday night. The 80-year-old man’s name has not been released.

Late Sunday in the same neighborhood, two gunmen walked up to a 17-year-old boy about 10:30 p.m. in the 7800 block of South Cornell and shot him in the back. The teen was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he later died, police said. His name has not been released.

Just after 6 p.m. Sunday, officers responding to a call of more Back of the Yards neighborhood gunfire in the 5200 block of South Sangamon found a 19-year-old man shot multiple times. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, authorities said. His name has not been released.

Less than an hour earlier, a 45-year-old man was killed and a 27-year-old wounded in another Englewood shooting. Robert L. Porter Jr. and the younger man were unloading boxes in an alley in the 6700 block of South Green when someone dressed in black walked up and fired shots, authorities said. Porter, of the 7300 block of South Green, was shot across the torso and chest and taken to Christ Medical Center, where he died at 6:02 p.m. The other man was taken to the same hospital in serious condition with wounds to the chest, back and wrist, police said.

The holiday weekend’s first fatal shooting happened early Sunday in the Archer Heights neighborhood on the Southwest Side. Juan Pita-Rosas, 32, was standing in an alley with a 22-year-old man shortly after midnight in the 4800 block of South Kildare when they heard gunfire and both felt pain, authorities said. Pita-Rosas, who lived in the 4700 block of South Springfield, was shot in the head and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:05 a.m. The younger man suffered gunshot wounds to the arm and chest and later showed up at Holy Cross Hospital in serious condition.

The latest nonfatal attack happened about 3 a.m. Tuesday in the West Englewood neighborhood on the South Side. A 20-year-old man was walking down the street in the 6300 block of South Winchester when he heard gunshots and realized he’d been struck, police said. He suffered a gunshot wound to the back and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where his condition was stabilized. A police source said the man is gang affiliated.

About 3:15 p.m., a 23-year-old pregnant woman and 25-year-old man were shot on a porch in the 900 block of West 53rd Street when someone walked up and opened fire, hitting her in the abdomen and him in the back, police said. They were taken to Stroger Hospital, where the woman was listed in serious condition and the man critical. Family members said the woman was due to deliver her first baby boy at the end of September.

At least 43 more people were wounded in shootings across Chicago between 9 p.m. Friday and 2:30 a.m. Tuesday. Last year, 54 people were shot—8 fatally—over Labor Day weekend.

Chicago passes 2015 murder total with 4 months left in 2016

(CHICAGO) Chicago ticked past a pair of grim milestones as August passed into September. Chicago Police said 90 people were murdered in the city in August. A few hours into Sept. 1, the total number of murders in 2016 reached 469, exceeding the tally for all of last year.

The number of murders in August was the most in a single month during an already bloody year, and the most in a one-month span in 20 years, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.

Year-to-date, the city has endured a 50 percent increase in murders and a similar spike in other categories of violent crime, while also grappling with public furor over police tactics following the release last year of video of a CPD officer pumping 16 bullets into teenager Laquan McDonald.

August also saw the city’s crime troubles receiving national attention. While other large cities have notched significant surges in violence, the 50 percent increase in shootings and murders in Chicago was an outlier. Numerous news reports have noted that the number of murders in Chicago is greater than the total for New York City and Los Angeles combined.

After Chicago-based rap star and one-time aldermanic candidate Che “Rhymefest” Smith was robbed at gunpoint last Saturday morning, he issued a harsh critique of the police officers who took his report to his Twitter followers.

The day before Rhymefest was robbed, Nykea Aldridge, a cousin of Bulls star Dwyane Wade, became one of the few murder victims in the city to garner attention outside the city when Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, observed in a tweet that her death was a reason for African-Americans to vote for him.

As the long Labor Day weekend loomed, the police union urged members to turn down holiday overtime and stay home, and Gov. Bruce Rauner deflected calls from activists that he should send the National Guard into the city to tamp down violence.

Spencer Leak Sr. said he is only dimly aware of the news or statistics as he goes about his work, but to his staff and clients at Leak & Sons Funeral Home in Chatham, it is clear that something is going wrong on the streets of Chicago.

The business, founded by Leak’s father in 1933, has always drawn clients from the adjacent neighborhoods of Lawndale and Englewood, areas that have seen a disproportionate share of the city’s homicides.

“It takes a toll, physically and emotionally, when you are seeing so many beautiful, young black men and women that you are working on,” Leak said Thursday. “My philosophy is not to count the families that come to our funeral home. I leave that to accountants. We just say that it is too many, and that something must be done about it.”

CPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi noted several positive trends in the year-to-year comparison of 2016 and 2015: There were nearly 20 percent more murder arrests this August than last, and CPD officers have taken 5,900 guns off the street through seizures and gun buy-back events, a 22 percent increase.

“That tells me that the police officers that have sworn to protect and serve are doing their jobs,” CPD Supt. Eddie Johnson said during one of several interviews with local TV stations on Thursday.

Returning to themes that the police chief has sounded in virtually every public appearance since he was appointed to the post earlier this year, Johnson said that a relative handful of repeat offenders drive most of the violence, and he called for longer prison sentences to keep them off the streets.

“Where we need help is holding these repeat gun offenders accountable for their actions,” Johnson said. “Right now in the city of Chicago, would you believe me if I told you, pre-trial, a person who steals a pack of hot dogs for retail theft does more time in jail than a gun offender does. That’s ridiculous.”

84-year-old man’s death in Morgan Park explosion ruled homicide

(CHICAGO) An 84-year-old man’s death following a garage explosion last week in the Far South Side Morgan Park neighborhood has been ruled a homicide.

About 4 a.m. Tuesday, Henry S. McCann Jr. saw someone in the backyard trying to break into the garage of his home in the 11200 block of South Green Street, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

McCann went outside to investigate, and the male ran away. When the elderly man opened the door to check the garage, something inside exploded, authorities said.

He taken to Roseland Hospital with burns and later transferred to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4 p.m. Friday, authorities said.

An autopsy Sunday found McCann died of complications of thermal injuries, with heart disease listed as a secondary cause.

The fire from the explosion spread to three other garages, police said. Chicago Fire Department officials could not immediately provide more information.

No one was in custody Sunday afternoon as CPD’s Bomb and Arson Unit investigates.

Man charged with drug-induced homicide in Mundelein

Joseph W. Crisara III | Mundelein police

 

(MUNDELEIN) Bond was set at $200,000 Tuesday for a northwest suburban man accused of selling the drugs that led to another man’s December death in Mundelein.

Joseph W. Crisara III, 28, was charged with drug-induced homicide in connection with the death of 27-year-old Jason Erickson, according to Mundelein police.

Erickson was found unresponsive by family members in the bedroom of his Mundelein home at 11:36 p.m. Dec. 26, 2015, police said.

Officers administered a dose of Naloxone before he was taken to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, where he later died, police said. Autopsy results are pending.

Crisara, who police say is a known drug dealer, had recently been released from prison after a 2014 conviction for manufacture and delivery of a controlled substance. He was identified as a suspect when investigators found messages on Erickson’s cellphone that linked him to Crisara, police said.

Authorities executed a search warrant Monday at Crisara’s home in the 300 block of Tulip Circle in Island Lake, where he was arrested, police said.

A judge ordered him held on a $200,000 bond at a Tuesday hearing, according to the Lake County sheriff’s office. His next court date is Feb. 11.

Police investigating Irving Park homicide

(CHICAGO) Chicago Police have opened a homicide investigation after a man with blunt force head trauma was found dead in an Irving Park neighborhood basement Monday morning.

About 11 a.m., the 52-year-old man was found in the basement of building in the 3900 block of North Spaulding, police said. He was dead at the scene.

In a message posted on Facebook, Ald. Deb Mell (33rd) said the man “appears to have known his assailant. This incident appears to be personal in nature, not a gang-related incident.”

The man’s identity was not released Monday afternoon.

Autopsy: South Holland nursing home resident died of natural causes

(SOUTH HOLLAND) One of three residents of a south suburban nursing home who died after several residents fell ill in February died of natural causes, authorities said Monday. The death of another patient was previously ruled a homicide.

Leon Krynicki, 98, was one of six patients at Holland Home in South Holland who were taken to hospitals on Feb. 3, the Chicago Sun-Times reported previously.

He was taken to Providence Hospice in Tinley Park where he died March 9, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.

The death of one of the other patients who died following the incident was previously ruled a homicide, authorities said. Dorothy Byrd, 98, died of morphine and hydrocodone toxicity.

An initial autopsy at the time was inconclusive, but tests have since determined Krynicki died of cardiomyopathy due to heart disease, said Frank Shuftan, a spokesman for the medical examiner’s office.

Dementia and chronic renal disease were listed as contributing factors, and his death was ruled natural, he said.

“The incident of 2/3/15 may represent an episode of overmedication after which Mr. Krynicki returned to his baseline condition,” Shuftan said in an email Monday. “This being the case, it did not contribute to death.”

A third patient, 88-year-old Robert Rundin, was taken to Saint Margaret’s Hospital in Dyer, Ind., where he died March 7, the Lake County (Ind.) coroner’s office said.

Coroner’s office officials said in early March that full autopsy results for Rundin were not expected for another four months because of further testing.

Officials with Villa Healthcare, which operates Holland home, said after the incident they are fully cooperating with the investigation.

South Holland police did not immediately respond to a message Monday evening seeking comment on the ongoing investigation.

© Copyright 2015 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

Police: Man found dead in Joliet was shot, run over by vehicle

(JOLIET)  Police are conducting a homicide investigation after a man was found shot and run over by a vehicle Saturday morning in southwest suburban Joliet.

Someone called police and reported a suspicious vehicle left in the 600 block of Kiep Avenue at 6:49 a.m., Joliet Police Deputy Chief Alan Roechner said.

Officers found a yellow Chevrolet Monte Carlo with damage on the front and back ends, Roechner said. Police kept surveillance on the car to see if anyone showed up.

More than an hour later, at 8:04 a.m., someone called 911 and reported a man lying in the alley in the 500 block of North Ottawa, Roechner said.

Michael C. Brock, 24, had been shot one time and run over by a vehicle, according to police and the Will County coroner’s office. Brock, of Joliet, was dead at the scene.

Police are searching for the owner of the Monte Carlo, and no one is in custody in connection with Brock’s death, Roechner said.

© Copyright 2015 Sun-Times Media, LLC