Tag Archives: shooting

Police officer and two employees were killed in Chicago hospital shooting

Chicago (CNN)- A police officer, a doctor and a pharmaceutical assistant were killed after a Monday afternoon shooting at Chicago’s Mercy Hospital, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said.

The shooting was a domestic incident see as the gunman’s first victim was a woman he had previously had a relationship with, said Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie T. Johnson.
The gunman also died, though it is unclear whether he died from police gunfire or a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Johnson said.
In a statement Monday, Mercy Hospital named its employees killed in the shooting as emergency room physician Tamara O’Neal and pharmacy resident Dayna Less — a 25-year-old recent graduate of Purdue University.
The hospital paid tribute to police and security staff, saying it was “deeply saddened by the tragedy.”
“Every shooting in America is a tragedy, and it is especially senseless when a shooting occurs in the healing space of a hospital,” it said.
Chicago Police identified the deceased officer as Samuel Jimenez, a father of three. He joined the force in February 2017 and recently completed probationary training, becoming a full-fledged officer, Johnson said. A procession was held for him Monday night.

No weapon found after man shot by Amtrak cop near Union Station

(CHICAGO) An on-duty Amtrak police officer — apparently responding to a robbery — shot a man Wednesday night about a block south of Union Station in the West Loop.

But as of Thursday afternoon, Chicago Police, the agency leading the criminal investigation of the incident, had not found a weapon belonging to the man, said CPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.

The officer opened fire about 8:45 p.m. near the intersection of Van Buren and Canal streets, striking the 25-year-old man in the left shoulder, according to Chicago Police.

He was taken in critical condition to Stroger Hospital, the Chicago Fire Department said.

A law enforcement source said the officer opened fire while responding to a robbery and was not hurt. Police said money and narcotics were recovered from the man at the scene.

Amtrak spokeswoman Christina Leeds confirmed in an email that a police officer for the rail agency was involved in the shooting, but did not release more details. She said the investigation would be led by Chicago Police.

The shooting occurred in the middle of the block on the east side of Canal, which was blocked to foot and vehicle traffic between Jackson and Van Buren, where about 15 law enforcement officers congregated.

The investigation was ongoing Thursday morning and no further details were available, police said.

© Copyright 2017 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

Shooting outside Chicago train stop leaves 1 dead, 1 wounded

(CHICAGO) Chicago police say a shooting outside a Southwest Side train station has left one man dead and another injured.

Police say officers responding to a fight about 7:30 a.m. Sunday found a 20-year-old man shot in the neck and a 24-year-old man wounded in the buttocks. Police say the 20-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.

The shooting occurred outside the California station on the Chicago Transit Authority’s Pink Line. Police say no pedestrians were being allowed in the station and trains were bypassing it.

Police say they have no one in custody in connection with the shooting.

SIU-CAMPUS LAKE

 

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

5 shot, 1 killed, after argument at Illinois party

(CHAMPAIGN) Authorities say five people were shot, one of them fatally, in two separate overnight shootings within minutes of each other in the eastern Illinois city of Champaign.

Police say in a news release that they believe the two shootings may be related. They say the first apparently stemmed from an argument at an apartment party shortly after midnight. It escalated into a fight outside in which shots were fired, striking four people.

One of the four, George Korchev of Mundelein, was killed. Police say he wasn’t involved in the fight and happened to be walking by when the shots were fired. The other three were taken to a hospital for treatment of what police called non-critical gunshot wounds.

Less than half an hour later, police received a report of another shooting. Officers found a victim, who was taken to a hospital and treated for a non-critical wound.

Police are searching for a suspect or suspects in the shootings and for the driver of a vehicle that struck someone who was running away from the gunfire at the first scene. That person’s injuries were minor.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Suspect shot during drug bust in Joliet mall parking lot

(JOLIET) Authorities say a suspect has been injured in a shootout with U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency officers in the parking lot of a suburban Chicago mall.

DEA Special Agent in Charge Dennis Wichern tells The Herald-News the shooting happened Tuesday evening during an undercover drug bust operation outside the Louis Joliet Mall in Joliet.

Wichern says when agents moved in to arrest two men, one began firing at them. According to the newspaper, the officers returned fire, striking the suspect in the leg. He was being treated for injuries that are not life-threatening.

Joliet Police Chief Brian Benton says several vehicles were struck by gunfire but no one else was injured.

Wichern says charges are pending against both men.

 

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

2 brothers, career criminals, charged in Nykea Aldridge’s slaying

 

Derren Sorrels (left) and Darwin Sorrels Jr. (right) | Chicago Police

 

(CHICAGO) Career criminals Darwin and Derren Sorrells decided to open fire on a stranger Friday afternoon in the Parkway Gardens neighborhood on the South Side. They missed their target, but their bullets allegedly struck 32­-year-­old Nykea Aldridge in the head.

The mother of four had been pushing a stroller at the time cradling Da’Kota, the baby she had given birth to less than four weeks earlier. Now, the moment when Aldridge crumpled to the ground beside her baby’s stroller has been captured on surveillance video, the prosecutor told Cook County Judge Adam Bourgeois.

Meanwhile, authorities filed murder charges Sunday against the Sorrells brothers. And Bourgeois glowered at them before he ordered them both held without bail, calling the pair “a threat to public safety.”

The men are accused of committing the murder that has become the latest stain on a city with an unrelenting death toll. Aldridge was the cousin of Chicago Bulls star Dwyane Wade, and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump quickly seized on her murder in a tweet as a reason “African­-Americans will VOTE TRUMP!” He later offered his condolences.

On Sunday, the city learned the names of the two men accused of gunning her down. Darwin Sorrells, 26, and Derren Sorrells, 22, are recent parolees now charged with first-degree murder and attempted first­-degree murder. Derren Sorrells is an unemployed father of two, records show. Darwin Sorrells has one child and works as a fork­-lift driver, an attorney said.

Darwin Sorrells has the Chicago skyline tattooed on his left hand, records show. “God” is tattooed on Derren Sorrells’ right.

“They chose this lifestyle,” Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said Sunday. “But they continue it because we continually show them that there is no consequence and they’re going to keep doing it until we show them that we are serious.”

Johnson told reporters he’s “so sick of every weekend talking about the murders that happen in the streets,” and he called again for increased penalties against repeat gun offenders.

The Sorrells brothers took aim Friday at a driver who had been hired to deliver several women from the suburbs to the 6300 block of South Calumet, authorities said. One brother made “eyes” with the driver, CPD spokesman Frank Giancamilli said. He didn’t know “what to make of him,” and he decided to go get his sibling.

The Sorrellses later began to harass the driver, who ran north on Calumet, a prosecutor said. Meanwhile, Aldridge happened to be walking south on Calumet, having just registered one of her children at a nearby school. That’s when the brothers allegedly opened fire, missing the driver but shooting Aldridge in her right arm, right eyelid and the back of the right side of her head.

“She was just another mother who wanted her children to get a good education, just like any parent would,” Johnson said.

The driver ran, hid and called police. He cooperated with investigators and has no criminal background, police said.

Meanwhile, not only does surveillance footage show the brothers armed at the scene, they gave videotaped statements to detectives.

Darwin Sorrells allegedly implicated his brother as the shooter, and Derren Sorrells admitted he pulled his trigger multiple times, the prosecutor said.

This is not the first time Darwin Sorrells has faced an attempted murder charge, records show. But he beat the last one in 2009 and was instead sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison for aggravated battery. Records show he still managed another conviction in 2011 for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, landing a five­-year prison sentence then. He was sentenced again in 2014, that time landing a six­-year sentence for possession of a stolen vehicle and illegal gun possession. Still, records show he managed parole six months ago.

Derren Sorrells, the younger brother, has a shorter rap sheet. He earned a two­-year prison sentence on an escape charge in 2013, and a six­-year sentence that same year for aiding in the sale or possession of a stolen vehicle.

Records show he was paroled Aug. 12.

That was 11 days after Aldridge’s daughter was born.

And exactly two weeks before Aldridge would be murdered.

— Chicago Sun-Times

Woman shot to death during domestic dispute in Roseland

(CHICAGO) A man was taken into custody after a woman was shot to death during a domestic dispute early Monday in the Roseland neighborhood on the Far South Side.

Officers responding about 12:30 a.m. to a call of a person shot in the 100 block of West 112th Place found the 35-year-old woman with a gunshot wound to the head, according to Chicago Police.

She was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. The Cook County medical examiner’s office confirmed the fatality, but did not immediately provide additional information.

Police said the shooting is domestic-related and a 43-year-old man has been taken into custody. Charges were pending Monday morning.

Woman pushing stroller fatally shot; was cousin of NBA star Wade

(CHICAGO) Less than 24 hours after participating in an ESPN town hall on violence in Chicago, Bulls star Dwyane Wade was devastated by news his cousin was shot and killed while pushing a baby stroller Friday afternoon in the South Side Parkway Gardens neighborhood, the Sun-Times is reporting.

It’s the latest example of senseless violence in a year of extraordinary gun violence in Chicago.

“My cousin was killed today in Chicago,” Wade tweeted Friday night. “Another act of senseless gun violence. 4 kids lost their mom for NO REASON. Unreal. #EnoughIsEnough.”

Nykea Aldridge, of the 6400 block of South Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, was taken to Stroger Hospital with gunshot wounds to the head and arm and was pronounced dead at 4:15 p.m., according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

About 3:30 p.m., Aldridge, 32, was walking with a baby in a stroller and a man in the 6300 block of South Calumet when two male suspects walked up and fired shots at a third man, according to Chicago Police.

“As she was walking down the street some type of altercation occurred which didn’t involve her,” Deputy Chief of Detectives James Jones told reporters at Chicago Police headquarters Friday night.

“We are talking to a couple of individuals that were in the area that have given us information regarding the shooting,” Jones added. “We don’t know what their involvement is and we are trying to hash out specifically and verify their story.”

He had few other details to share, saying the investigation “is very early in its stages right now.”

A relative took custody of the baby, who was not injured.

Police said Aldridge was not the intended target of what Jones called “this senseless shooting.”

The Bulls issued a statement Friday night saying “the entire Chicago Bulls organization” was “deeply saddened” by the Aldridge’s death.

“We send our deepest condolences to the entire Wade family during this difficult time,” the team’s statement said.

Jolinda Wade, mother of Dwyane Wade, talked with reporters Friday evening at Stroger Hospital. She participated in the nationally televised town hall with her son the night before.

“Just sat up on a panel yesterday, The Undefeated, talking about the violence that’s going on within our city of Chicago, never knowing that the next day we would be the ones that would be actually living and experiencing it,” Jolinda Wade said.

Wade told reporters that her niece was struck by “bullets that have no name” as she was on her way to enroll her children in school.

“We’re still going to help empower people like the one who senselessly shot my niece in the head,” Wade told reporters as she held her sister in her arms, in remarks posted online by WGN-TV.

Jolinda Wade said it was the second child her sister has lost to gun violence.

Wade, senior pastor of New Creation Binding and Loosing Ministry in Chicago, spoke of the importance of giving the young men who are shooting each other in Chicago help to transform their minds and find a better direction with their lives.

“We ask that everyone continue to pray for us,” she said.

2 injured in ISP-involved shooting on South Side

By Adam Chappelle, WLS-AM 890 News

(CHICAGO) Two people were injured after Illinois State Police troopers fired at an armed man in a cab late Thursday night. ISP officials said troopers were conducting a routine traffic stop in the West Chatham neighborhood around 8:30pm. While conducting that stop, the troopers were flagged down by a taxi near 77th and Vincennes.

When troopers approached the car, they found an armed man in the backseat, and shots rang out. Witnesses told ABC-7 police were trying to physically pull one person out of that cab.

One person was transported to Stroger Hospital in serious to critical condition, the other to St. Bernard Hospital in fair to serious condition. One trooper was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, but fire officials said that trooper was not shot, and it was unknown why he was taken from the scene.

Chicago Police officer wounded in Washington Heights shooting

(CHICAGO) A Chicago Police officer was grazed by a bullet in the Washington Heights neighborhood on the South Side Tuesday night.

The officer, whose age and gender were not immediately disclosed, suffered the wound to their face about 10:05 p.m. in the 10000 block of South Eggleston, according to Chicago Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.

As officers were trying to stop a car wanted in a carjacking, the driver shot a squad car’s windshield, Guglielmi said. Backup officers returned fire after they saw the driver shooting at police, but the driver was not struck.

A suspect was taken into police custody after the shooting and a gun was recovered, Guglielmi said.

 

After standoff, cops say man found dead of self-inflicted gunshot

(CHICAGO) After a 10-hour standoff Thursday, Chicago SWAT officers stormed a South Side home to find a man dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.

Police said about 9 a.m., Kevin Robinson fired a dozen shots at SWAT team officers who had taken up positions outside a home in the 10300 block of South Union, prompting the officers to return fire, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting. Robinson had been on the phone with a police hostage negotiator moments before opening fire on officers from a second-floor window.

It was the last communication officers would have with Robinson, who police said had killed three people at a home in Lawndale about 10 hours earlier.

In the hours that followed, SWAT officers blocked streets in the surrounding neighborhood for hours and warned neighbors to hide in their basements. Over a bullhorn, a hostage negotiator played a recorded message from Robinson’s mother, who waited, out of sight, with relatives. Starting around noon, police began launching canisters of tear gas into the house.

“Kevin, it’s your mother. Come outside. I love you. Please come out,” the plaintive voice of Robinson’s mother, Linda McPherson, said on a recording that played throughout the late morning and early afternoon over a police bullhorn. “Don’t bring out any weapons and put your hands up. . . . please, think about it.”

When SWAT officers kicked in the door about 1 p.m., they found Robinson dead in the same bedroom from which he had fired on police, a gun in his hand, CPD Deputy Chief Steve Georgas told reporters. Robinson had suffered an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, Georgas said, though spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the Medical Examiner’s office had yet to remove the body from the home. It was not clear if Robinson was struck by the barrage of return fire from SWAT officers as well, Georgas said.

On Wednesday night, police said, Robinson shot the mother of one of his children, 26-year-old Makeesha Starks, her sister, Kiara Kinard, and Jerome T. Wright, 50, at a home in the 1500 block of West 71st Street.

Wright, of the 1500 block of West 74th Street; and Starks, who lived on the block where the shooting happened, were both shot in the head and pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.

Kinard, of the 7700 block of South Seeley, was shot in the back and was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where she died at 2:37 a.m., authorities said.

Not long after SWAT officers emerged from the house, Robinson’s sister, Kedra, huddled with family in an alley across the street. Kedra Robinson said she had rushed to the house early Thursday and had spent the day waiting with family hoping Robinson would leave the house unharmed.

Kedra Robinson said Starks had been “like a sister” to her, and that she did not know whether her brother had killed anyone. Her version of how her brother died differed starkly from the police account of the standoff. She said Kevin Robinson was on the phone with his mother, preparing to surrender, when he was shot.

“They was trying to kill him instead of trying to bring him in,” Robinson told reporters, as a woman who said she was Starks’ sister tried to shout her down.

“I’m not gonna argue with you all, y’all lost a loved one, I lost a loved one,” Robinson shouted back. “They have to have hard evidence to link anybody to any type of murder.”

Guglielmi said Kevin Robinson had fled to the South Union house, in the city’s Ferndale neighborhood, to hide out with a former girlfriend with whom he also had a child. The woman let him in, but called police after Robinson fell asleep. Officers from the 22nd District sneaked the woman and her child out of the house sometime after 3 a.m., and then called in SWAT officers.

The Independent Police Review Authority will review the case, Guglielmi said. The SWAT team was deployed more than 1,000 times in the last four years, and only four suspects were killed, Guglielmi said.

After SWAT officers surrounded the house, negotiators tried to reach Robinson by phone and loudspeaker, Georgas said.

“We did have a short conversation with him, he did answer a phone,” he said. “That conversation did not go anywhere. It was shortly after that where he appeared at the window and fired 10 to 12 shots at our officers.”

Linda McPherson, Robinson’s mother, had arrived at the South Union house from her home in Hammond, Indiana, early Thursday morning, and spent the day waiting with police, said family spokesman Eric Russell.

Family members offered to approach the house and try to get Robinson to give up, but police refused their help. In a version of events that differed starkly from the police account of the stand off, Russell told reporters that Robinson was on the phone with her son — Russell said he did not know for sure what time — and had told her he wanted to surrender to police, when she heard gunshots and another man’s voice, Russell said.

“She unfortunately did hear her son take his last breaths,” Russell said, noting the family had hired an attorney.

“They say he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” Russell said. “Quite frankly, the family simply is not buying that narrative.”

Woman Shot near Wisconsin Dells Dies

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Officials say an Illinois woman shot in a drive-by shooting on a Wisconsin interstate has been declared brain dead and is only being kept on life support to preserve her organs for donation.

Sauk County Coroner Greg Hahn says Tracy Czaczkowski was pronounced brain dead early Monday morning.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

Two shot in Barrington

(BARRINGTON) Two people were shot in northwest suburban Barrington early Sunday.

About 3:10 a.m., police were called to the intersection of Route 14 and Shorely Drive for a possible shooting, according to Barrington police.

Two people, whose ages and genders were not disclosed, were shot and they were taken to area hospitals, police said. Their conditions were also not specified.

Investigators believe the shooting was an isolated incident.

© Copyright 2016 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

Suspect dead, 3 CPD officers wounded in West Side shootout

(CHICAGO) Three Chicago Police officers were shot during a drug investigation Monday night in the 3700 block of West Polk in the Homan Square neighborhood, authorities said.’

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said none of the officers had life-threatening injuries.

Just before 10 p.m., four officers were investigating suspected narcotics sales on the 3700 block of South Polk and saw a man and woman in a “known drug area,” Guglielmi said. The man ran into a dark gangway and opened fire at the officers, striking three of them, he said.

One officer returned fire and killed the man, Guglielmi said.

The three wounded officers were being treated at Stroger Hospital. Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Escalante were expected to visit them Monday night.

In an emailed statement late Monday, Emanuel said: “Every day the dedicated men and women of the Chicago Police Department put themselves in danger so the rest of us can be safe. Tonight we were reminded of the dangers that our police face, and the bravery that they routinely display as three of our officers were shot in line of duty. The thoughts and prayers of our entire city are with the officers and their families during this difficult time.”

The shooting happened just a few blocks west of the police department’s organized crime headquarters. On Aug. 11, a 21-year-old man was shot and wounded on the same block, records show.

A woman who lives on the same block where the shootings occurred said she was watching TV when she heard about 15 gunshots. The woman, who didn’t want her name used, said she dropped to the floor and turned off the lights when she heard the gunfire. A short while later, she heard wailing sirens.

“It was a sea of blue lights,” she said.

She said she saw three ambulances leave the scene.

The woman said that while gunshots aren’t uncommon in the neighborhood, it had been “fairly quiet,” in recent months.

Three Chicago Police officers were shot Monday night in the 3700 block of West Polk on Monday night. | Sam Charles/Sun-Times
Three Chicago Police officers were shot Monday night in the 3700 block of West Polk on Monday night. | Sam Charles/Sun-Times

West Side leaders demand officer be fired for weekend shootings

(CHICAGO) West Side community leaders on Wednesday demanded an expedited investigation and firing of the Chicago Police officer who shot and killed 55-year-old Bettie Jones and 19-year-old Quintonio LeGrier, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.

“Why did police shoot, knowing someone unrelated to the incident was in close proximity of LeGrier? And why did they shoot at all? Are there not other ways to disarm someone with a bat?” asked Pierre Keys of We Charge Genocide at a news conference outside 11th Police District headquarters, 3151 W. Harrison.

“Why is only 16 percent of Chicago’s police department trained on how to deal with people mentally challenged,” he asked. “We’re also calling for the resignation of Rahm Emanuel. He only responds to our plight and our struggles when it’s politically expedient.”

The group included elected officials such as state Rep. La Shawn Ford, who recently introduced a bill that would allow Chicagoans to recall/fire their mayor, and prominent ministers such as Ira Acree, pastor of Greater St. John Bible Church and chair of the West Side Leader’s Network of churches.

The group demanded that the department publicly identify the officer who shot Jones and LeGrier early Saturday. The officer is assigned to administrative duties for 30 days under new Chicago Police Department protocols.

“We are concerned citizens of the West Side, where this heinous act on Dec. 26th happened. We are businessmen. We are tax-paying citizens who are sick and tired of being sick and tired,” said Marseil Jackson, director of the youth division of the Leaders Network and founder of the Jackson Action Coalition.

“It’s a sad day in America when I cannot call 911 to help me because I might get hurt. We want to know who they are protecting and serving,” Jackson said.

In the West Garfield Park incident, LeGrier, an emotionally troubled yet academically gifted Northern Illinois University student reportedly became so agitated that his father called police. Arriving officers “were confronted by a combative subject” and the teen was shot and killed, according to Chicago police.

Jones, a mother of five, was an innocent neighbor in the two-flat building who simply opened the door. Saying she “was accidentally struck and tragically killed,” the police department has apologized.

“I understand the officer said he apologizes, but how can you make a mistake like that? Laquan McDonald did not get a chance to apologize. Bettie Jones, Quintonio LeGrier, did not get a chance to apologize,” said Tio Hardiman of Violence Interrupters Inc.

“I just left Bettie Jones’ home. Her four daughters need a new home. They lost their mother. They lost everything,” he said. “There’s no evidence in the universe that all African-American youth are a threat to the police department. So why are police so trigger-happy to kill them? Why are the shootings that occur in the community a white officer killing an African-American youth?”

Coming a month after the city’s release of the police dashcam video showing the killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald — shot 16 times by officer Jason Van Dyke in October 2014 — the recent incident added fuel to already incendiary police-community relations.

The group of about 20 entered the Harrison District office seeking a meeting with Deputy Chief James Jones. They were asked to wait outside. The group eventually was told to leave a contact and Jones would follow up. The leaders called the treatment “disrespectful” and “representative” of Chicago Police culture. The department did not respond to a request for comment.

“We don’t wish to denigrate or downplay the important role of the police. What we are here to say is unlawful behavior will not be tolerated,” said Gerald Frazier of Dreamz and Visionz. “The mayor in his re-election campaign stood in front of cameras and said he’d listen. Yes, Mr. Emanuel, we did vote for you, 57 percent of African-Americans. Where are you? We’re ready to talk.”

— Chicago Sun-Times

Chicago Police kill 55 year old unarmed grandmother.

By John Dempsey, WLS News

(CHICAGO)  The crisis involving police shootings intensified for Mayor Rahm Emanuel over the weekend as police shot and killed an unarmed 55 year old grandmother and mother of five, on the West Side.

Family members say 55 year old Bettie Jones was shot to death in the home in the 47 hundred block of West Erie early Saturday morning.  Jones lived in the first floor apartment of a two flat and police responded to the residence after a man in the upstairs apartment called police to say his 19 year old son, Quintonio LeGrier, was attacking him with a baseball bat.   When police arrived, Jones opened the door of the building to let them in, and witnesses say LeGrier then came charging down the stairs behind her, from the upstairs apartment, wielding the bat.    When police shot and killed him, the witnesses say Jones was hit in the crossfire and died.

LeGrier was a student at Northern Illinois University.   His family said he suffered from mental illness.

It’s the latest embarrassment for Emanuel who has faced a constant stream of criticism since the release of a video last month showing police shooting and killing 17 year old LaQuan McDonald in October of 2014.

Emanuel remains out of the country on a vacation with his family in Cuba, but he issued a statement saying, “There are serious questions about yesterday’s shootings that must be answered in full by the Independent Police Review Authority’s investigation. While their investigation is underway, we must also make real changes within our police department today and it is clear changes are needed to how officers respond to mental health crises.

This afternoon I directed the new Acting Chief Administrator of the Independent Police Review Authority and the Interim Superintendent of Police to meet with each other as soon as possible to review the Crisis Intervention Team training, around how officers respond to mental health crisis calls. I have asked that they determine the deficiencies in the current training, and determine what steps can be taken immediately to address them”.

Emanuel’s police department also departed from past practices and immediately apologized for Jones shooting.   The department issued a statement saying, “The 55 year old female victim was accidentally struck and tragically killed. The department extends it’s deepest condolences to the victim’s family and friends”.

In another policy change, the police department also placed the officer or officers involved on desk duty for 30 days, and says that will be the standard protocol going forward for all police-involved shootings.   In the past, officers involved in shootings were only on desk duty for three days.

Also, Fraternal Order of Police President Dean Angelo told “The Big John Howell Show” on WLS, that while he has sympathy for Jones and her family, LeGrier is to blame for what happened, saying  “You know the actions on behalf of the individual with the baseball bat caused that situation to occur.   That’s where the responsibilities lie.   What happens after that person’s behavior forces the policeman into that situation”.

Angelo also agreed that it’s a good idea for more officers to be equipped with and trained in the use of tasers, saying, “Even if they outfitted the entire department with tasers, only one in five could actually utilize them.  I think that’s something that’s going to change.   I think that you’re going to see, I don’t know if it’s going to be mandatory, but you’ll see another round of training certification for tasers to come, and I think you’ll see more purchases of those devices”.

@ 2015 WLS NEWS

 

Police Investigating Bolingbrook Shooting Deaths

Photo Credit; MorgueFile.com
Photo Credit; MorgueFile.com

 

By ick Gale, WLS News

Bolingbrook High School was under a soft lockdown this morning after a shooting nearby left two people dead. According to Bolingbrook High School officials, the lockdown, which was in place for less than one hour, was lifted around 11 a.m.

The lockdown was at the request of Bolingbrook police only as a precautionary measure.

Bolingbrook police confirm two people were killed near Veteran’s Parkway and Remington, about two blocks from the high school. Additional details have not been released.

 

Outbound Bishop Ford lanes closed for police investigation

(CHICAGO) All lanes on the outbound Bishop Ford Freeway near the Dan Ryan Expressway were closed Thursday morning for a police investigation.

Dan Ryan backup

No traffic was being let into outbound Bishop Ford lanes off the Dan Ryan for a police investigation, beginning at 6:15 a.m., Illinois State Police said. A police representative declined to provide more details.

The length of closures was unknown.

UPDATE: Two charged with robbing, shooting off-duty Oak Park police officer

(OAK PARK) Two teens have been charged with the armed robbery and shooting of an off-duty Oak Park police officer early Sunday on the Far South Side.

The officer, 57, was at his garage in the 300 block of West 103rd Place getting ready to go to work at 5:13 a.m. when 18-year-old Taiwan McNeal and a 17-year-old David Bush approached him and one of them produced a handgun, according to Chicago Police.

The unarmed robber began to search the officer, at which point the officer drew his weapon and exchanged gunfire with the armed suspect, police said. The officer was shot in the forearm and lower leg and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where his condition was stabilized.

Responding officers found the suspects in a gangway a few blocks away in the 9900 block of South Princeton, police said. Bush had suffered multiple gunshot wounds, authorities said.

Both were taken into custody, and Bush was transported to Christ Medical Center for treatment while McNeal was taken to the Area South police headquarters for processing.

McNeal, of the 10000 block of South LaSalle, and Bush, whose home address was not immediately available, were each charged with felony counts of attempted robbery armed with a firearm, attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery with a firearm, police said.

Bush was ordered held without bond Monday, and is next scheduled to appear in court May 26, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

McNeal is expected to appear in bond court Tuesday.

UPDATE – Female injured in downtown party bus shooting

A female was shot while inside a party bus early Wednesday on Michigan Avenue near Monroe Street. | Network Video Productions
A female was shot while inside a party bus early Wednesday on Michigan Avenue near Monroe Street. | Network Video Productions

(CHICAGO) A woman was injured in an accidental shooting early Wednesday while she was inside a party bus downtown near Millennium Park.

The 24-year-old woman was shot in the leg after another passenger discharged a gun about 2:35 a.m. while inside the bus on Michigan Avenue near Monroe Street, police said. The shooting appeared to be accidental.

She was taken in good condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, police said.

Further details were not immediately available, and police said witnesses were not cooperating with investigators.

Detectives were questioning several people early Wednesday.

No bond for two charged with shooting at off-duty police officer in Humboldt Park

(CHICAGO) Two men charged with shooting toward an off-duty Chicago Police officer Thursday night on the West Side have been ordered held without bond.

Gustavo VillaGomez, 27, and Kevin Martinez, 20, both face one count of aggravated assault of a peace officer with a weapon, a felony, according to a statement from Chicago Police. VillaGomez was also cited for driving on a revoked license and Martinez was on bond for a previous firearm-related charge.

About 10:55 p.m. Thursday, the off-duty officer was at a red light in his personal vehicle in the 2600 block of West Division when an SUV approached on the passenger side and people inside yelled gang slogans at him, police said.

He identified himself as a Chicago Police officer and began to drive away, when the SUV followed and its occupants fired shots in his direction, police said. No one was injured.

The officer then drove to the Shakespeare District police station and gave a description of the SUV’s occupants, police said.

VillaGomez, of the 3200 block of South Lawndale, and Martinez, of the 1500 block of South 59th Avenue in Cicero, were apprehended a short time later and positively identified by the officer, police said.

On Sunday, they were both ordered held without bond, according to the Cook County sheriff’s office. They are both next scheduled to appear in court Monday.

Suit: Fatal Bucktown nightclub shooting brought on by owner’s, City’s negligence

(CHICAGO) A nightclub owner’s management practices and the City of Chicago’s negligence led to a fatal shooting outside a Bucktown nightclub last month, a newly filed lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit was filed by the estate of Deonta Jackson Monday in Cook County Circuit Court. Sam Menetti, owner of Dolphin Chicago, and the City of Chicago were named as defendants.

About 3 a.m. on March 16, a fight broke out inside the club at 2200 N. Ashland, police said at the time.

As the fight continued, security guards pushed Jackson toward the nightclub’s north exit, at which point someone fatally shot him, the suit stated.

Jackson, 35, of the 600 block of West 115th Street, was shot multiple times and pronounced dead at the scene, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Another man, 41-year-old Elijah Moore, of the 7700 block of South Bishop, was also killed in the shooting, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Two other men were also shot and survived.

The lawsuit stated that Menetti failed to properly train his security employees and failed to properly control crowds at the nightclub.

“But for Mr. Menetti’s negligent operation of a dangerous nightclub, Deonta Jackson would not have been shot and killed at said club,” the suit stated.

Menetti could not be reached for comment Monday evening.

The city knew of the problems at the nightclub after several reminders from 32nd Ward Ald. Scott Waguespack, the suit said.

“But for the City of Chicago’s negligence in ignoring Alderman Waguespack’s repeated requests to close Dolphin Nightclub, the club would have been closed long before the incident in question caused Deonta Jackson’s death,” the suit stated.

A spokesman for the city’s Law Department declined to comment, saying the department has not had an opportunity to review the suit yet.

Two days after the shooting, Mayor Rahm Emanuel moved to make it easier for the city to shut down bars with a history of police incidents. Until a shuttered bar provided a “plan of action” to address safety concerns that would need further approval, it would remain closed.

Calls to the Dolphin Nightclub were not answered Monday evening.

The five-count suit alleges wrongful death and seeks more than $250,000 in damages.

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

Uber driver shoots man who allegedly shot at group on Logan Square sidewalk

(CHICAGO) An Uber driver put his concealed carry permit to use Friday night when he pulled a shotgun and opened fire on a man he saw firing a pistol into a group of people on a Logan Square sidewalk, according to prosecutors.

Six blasts from his shotgun injured a 22-year-old man identified as Everardo Custodio, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.

Custodio suffered wounds to his shin, knee and lower back and was still in Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center on Sunday, when Cook County Judge Peggy Chiampas refused to grant bail on charges of aggravated battery with a firearm and illegal possession of a firearm.

The 47-year-old Uber driver “was acting in self-defense and in the defense of others,” Assistant State’s Attorney Barry Quinn said.

Custodio, who lives about a block from the site of the shooting, was the only person injured in the confrontation that happened about 11:50 p.m. in the 2900 block of North Milwaukee Avenue.

The Uber driver had dropped off a passenger minutes before the shooting occurred, said Uber spokeswoman Jen Mullin. She had no comment on the driver’s actions other than to say the company requires all its drivers to abide by local, state and federal laws pertaining to transporting firearms in vehicles.

Quinn said the Uber driver, who could not be reached Sunday, was parked in his car when Custodio began firing in his direction, aiming at the nearby group of people.

Police patrolling the area heard the shots and arrived to find Custodio on the ground and bleeding. Police also recovered a handgun found near Custodio, Quinn said.

Uber plans to interview the driver and the passenger he dropped off before the shooting, said Mullin, who did not know where the driver stowed his shotgun.

The driver was still an active driver for Uber as of Sunday night, Mullin said.

~Sun-Times

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

Teen who shot himself charged with shooting at car full of people

(CHICAGO) A teenager has been charged with shooting at a vehicle full of people he mistook for rival gang members, but instead injuring himself Sunday morning on the South Side.

The 17-year-old boy is charged as a juvenile with one count of attempted first-degree murder and six counts of aggravated battery/occupied vehicle, according to Chicago Police. His name was not released because of his age.

The teen was inside a Chevy Suburban that pulled alongside a parked car in the 4700 block of South Loomis about 9 a.m., police said. He shouted gang slogans and opened fire at the car before the Suburban drove off.

No one in the car was shot, but a 30-year-old woman was struck in the face and neck by shattered glass, police said. She was treated and released from Saint Anthony Hospital.

A few minutes later, the Suburban was pulled over at 15th and Halsted, and the teen was arrested and charged, police said. He had shot himself in the hand and suffered a graze wound to his forehead during the shooting.

Police said the people inside the car had no gang affiliations, and the shooting is thought to be a case of mistaken identity.

© Copyright 2015 Sun-Times Media, LLC