PHOTOS BY ALEX WROBLEWSKI
For Sun-Times Media

Adam Lara, 16, was killed and his 49-year-old father critically injured when gunfire erupted following an argument at a Hermosa neighborhood restaurant Monday afternoon.

BY KALEY FOWLER AND EMILY BROSIOUS
Homicide Watch Chicago

Cassius White moved to Chicago from New Orleans in 2006 after being displaced by Hurricane Katrina, friends said.

White and a 16-year-old boy were wounded in a drive-by shooting July 7 in the 9600 block of South Sangamon Avenue, authorities said.

White, 19, of the 8200 block of South Dante Avenue, died later that day.

Friends described him as wise beyond his years.

“He didn’t think like kids from our generation,” said friend Arielle Williams, 18. “He had an old soul and he seemed so old, so mature. He was very intellectual.”

White moved to Chicago when he was in fourth grade and bragged to his classmates that his father stayed in New Orleans to help hurricane victims, said friend Tevon Blair, 18.

White was well read, stayed up to date on current events and could easily hold a conversation with older adults, said Lenora Dennis, the mother of one of White’s friends.

Cassius White / Photo from Twitter

“He was an exceptionally bright kid,” said Dennis’ husband, Kenneth Holman. “It’s like he was born on a different path but got swallowed up in the streets.”

White lived with his mother, but often stayed with Dennis and Holman, said Williams. White's mother declined to comment.

“Cassius was very headstrong, and he’d listen to her, but he wasn’t keen on taking her advice,” Williams said. “He told me once he wished he could be the man she wanted him to be and he wished they were closer. He loved his mom.”

Holman and Dennis said they invited White into their home because they wanted to keep him off the streets. They said their house was a safe place for him and his friends to listen to music and play video games without getting in trouble.

Holman, who operates a recording studio out of his home, said he frequently tried to persuade White to pursue rapping, but White never showed much interest.

Friends gather to discuss Cassius White / Photo by Jessica Koscielniak

However, White brought up rapping during their last conversation, when he told Holman he was ready to record his first track.

“I was looking forward to him being under our watch in the studio and off the streets,” Holman said. “He fell in with some guys that were into street life and slowly devolved into that world in the last few months. I got the vibe that he realized he needed to do music because the walls were closing in.”

Friend Lamont Brown, 19, said he and some of White’s older friends tried to keep him out of trouble, but they could tell White was growing increasingly reckless.

Friend Kyndal Buchanan, 18, said White had a tough exterior, but still cared deeply for his friends and always put their needs first. She said he had a great sense of humor and could make anyone laugh.

Brown said that although White was “in the wrong state of mind” in recent months, he still had good intentions and aspired to be successful in life.

Nobody has been charged for the murder. Area South detectives continue to investigate.

BY DANIEL KAY HERTZ
danielkayhertz.com

Mayor Rahm Emanuel reacted to Chicago's particularly violent Fourth of July weekend as he, and many other public figures, have many times before. It's one of my least-favorite bits of Chicago rhetoric.

Emanuel said gun violence plaguing the city must be addressed in a variety of ways, which he said included policing, tougher gun laws, more investment to help children in impoverished neighborhoods and instilling a "shared sense of purpose and values" in communities across Chicago.

Right: similarly, the Mexican drug war began in 2006 when Mexicans suddenly found themselves without a shared sense of purpose and values.

And the Capone-era violence unleashed by Prohibition in the 1920s might not have been so bad if Chicagoans had just felt themselves more strongly to be part of a purpose-driven community.

This slur -- that violence could be prevented by the people who live in the neighborhoods it affects, if only they cared or tried hard enough -- needs to end. For one, you only have to walk a few blocks in most of the communities most affected by crime in Chicago to see lots of indications that the people who live there -- shock of shocks -- are, in fact, "taking a stand" already.

You see signs like this all over the South Side. It’s almost as if black people like safe neighborhoods, too! Photo credit: Homicide Watch Chicago

But what makes this trope really sublime is the fact that neither mayors, nor police commissioners, nor the most esteemed criminologists, have more than the barest understanding about why crime goes up or down to begin with. Concentrated poverty and unemployment can't help, of course, but consider that crime continued to fall or remain steady in Chicago and the rest of the country during the worst economy since the Great Depression. So people like Mayor Emanuel, faced with a problem he doesn't know how to fix, instinctively reach to blame the people who are most brutally affected.

Of course, this slur wouldn't work if we weren't so eager to believe that people who are poor or non-white -- the people who disproportionately suffer from crime - are somehow less civilized, less moral, less interested in their communities, than everyone else. But that's a lie.

So is "take a stand." End it.

-- Daniel Kay Hertz is a University of Chicago student at the Harris School of Public Policy. He has previously worked as a middle school social studies teacher, a travel guidebook writer, a state representative campaign staffer and a community organizer in Chicago and Boston.

Andrew Turner was fatally shot July 26, 2013, in the North Lawndale neighborhood. Reader "Ebony" posted this about him:

Love u more than anything I'm trying to show the world u wasn't another statistic and I will not rest until u get the justice you deserve! I will make sure UR legacy lives on through our 2 beautiful BOYZ who love u dearly! Sincerely UR wife

BY ANGELIQUE WHITE
Homicide Watch Chicago

Schiquille Salter tutored local children and helped teach a youth ministries program, family said.

Salter, 23, was fatally shot as he stood outside his home in the 300 block of West 116th Street just after 9 p.m. July 6, authorities said.

Just before the shooting, Salter helped his grandmother get bags out of her car and had made a pizza to share with friends, said his aunt, Rev. Franshonn Salter. About 10 minutes later, gunfire erupted and Schiquille Salter was struck.

His grandmother found a friend hold a bleeding Schiquille Salter, his aunt said.

"I don't think I felt anything when he was shot. I was numb, absolutely numb. ... I couldn't believe it, I still can't believe it," said his father, Jamal Salter.

Schiquille Salter lived with his grandmother while he attended Christian Fenger Academy High School, and later spent two years studying graphic design and business at Northern Illinois University, his aunt said.

“He took two semesters off due to financial reasons,” she said.

During the time off, Schiquille Salter worked at Popeye's, tutored children in math and helped his aunt carry equipment around her church, family said. He also assisted in teaching a youth ministries program.

“He always had a smile on his face," Franshonn Salter said. "I never seen him angry."

He planned on re-enrolling at NIU in the fall, his aunt said.

“I saw him everyday, he was like my little personal assistant,” she said.

Schiquille Salter was a middle child and had a brother and two sisters, his father said.

"His favorite thing to eat when he was younger was macaroni and cheese, potatoes and ravioli," his father said.

As an adult, he had been living with his grandmother and occasionally brought his small group of friends home for Sunday dinners, his aunt said.

“He wasn’t affiliated with gangs or drugs,” she said.

Franshonn Salter said she wants to let everyone know that Schiquille Salter is not just another statistic.

“He was my everything and he was a really good guy," she said. "He didn’t deserve to get shot down in the street like a dog.”

Franshonn Salter said violence is prevalent in the Roseland and West Pullman communities, and she even contacted Mayor Rahm Emanuel in May about potentially bringing in the National Guard.

“It’s going to take every entity to solve the violence in area," Franshonn Salter said. "It’s going to take the community, government and church."

Nobody has been charged for the murder. Area South detectives are investigating.

David Silva / Photo from Chicago Police

BY LEEANN SHELTON
Sun-Times Media Wire

David Silva has been charged with the murder in the shooting death of Jimero Starling this month in the Humboldt Park neighborhood.

Starling and his friends were riding bicycles on Division Street between Kedzie and Spaulding avenues after a party when Silva, Randy “Garfield” Ruiz, Jeremy Medina and two others yelled gang slogans and questioned Starling’s group about their gang affiliations on July 2, prosecutors said.

Starling, 19, tried explaining he too was a Latin King, but Silva's group kept harassing them, Assistant State’s Attorney Robert Mack said.

At some point, Silva punched one of Starling’s friends, Mack said. Silva, Ruiz, Medina and the others chased Starling and his friends west on Division Street and eventually caught up with Starling and started punching him, Mack said.

Ruiz, 18, then shot Sterling in the head, prosecutors said.

A surveillance camera captured the shooting and witnesses identified both Ruiz and Medina, Mack said. Silva was later identified in a photo lineup.

All three have been charged with first-degree murder, police said. Silva and Medina were also charged with one count of aggravated battery in a public place.

On Friday, Silva, 26, of the 1200 block of North Mason Avenue, was ordered held on $750,000, authorities said.

Ruiz, of the 3200 block of West Cortez Street, was previously ordered held without bond. Medina, 20, of the 1100 block of North Lawler Avenue is being held on $750,000.

Keith Martin / Photo from Chicago Police

Police are looking for “armed and dangerous” man wanted in connection with a domestic shooting last Saturday that left Adarrius Thompson dead and his mother critically injured.

A warrant has been issued for Keith Martin, 47, for the July 12 shooting in the 6200 block of South Rockwell Street, police said.

Martin allegedly got into an argument with Thompson and his 50-year-old mother at their home about 1:15 a.m. July 12, authorities said. Martin then left, but came back with a gun and shot them both, police said.

Thompson, 27, was shot in the chest and died at the scene, authorities said. His mother was also shot in the chest and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in serious condition, authorities said.

Martin is believed to be armed and dangerous, police said. He was last seen driving a Gray 2002 Ford F-150 with Illinois license plate 1220475B. The truck bed is fitted with a distinctive tool box.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call 911.

-- Sun-Times Media Wire

Marco Alvarado / Photo from Chicago Police

Marco Alvarado has been charged with murder in the April beating death of Jacob Klepacz in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, police said.

Police responding to a 911 call about a battery found Klepacz, 32, with head trauma in the 1500 block of West Fullerton Avenue about 4 a.m. April 28, authorities said.

Klepacz, of the 1200 block of North Noble Street, died at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center about a half hour later, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

An autopsy was initially inconclusive, but the medical examiner’s office has since determined Klepacz died of blunt head trauma from an assault and his death was ruled a homicide. Alcohol intoxication was listed as a contributing factor.

The initial inconclusive autopsy result sparked a movement on social media that pushed for a homicide ruling.

Jacob Klepacz / Photo from Facebook

Authorities said Alvarado, 21, of the 2400 block of South Spaulding Avenue, was positively identified as the person who beat Klepacz during a robbery.

Alvarado was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of robbery, police said.

-- Sun-Times Media Wire

BY MAUDLYNE IHEJIRIKA
Chicago Sun-Times

A 10-year-old girl died hours after being shot in her head Friday night in the West Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side, officials said.

Shamiya Adams was shot about 9:35 p.m. in the 3900 block of West Gladys Avenue, officials said.

She was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital. The girl had surgery early Saturday morning but died hours later.

Shamiya had been placed on a breathing machine, family members said.

Neighbors said the girl was apparently playing inside a home when a stray bullet struck the youngster. Some family members said she was at a friend’s sleepover party in a bedroom when a bullet went through the window.

“If you can’t even be at home, where can you be safe?” said Terrence Redmond, a 32-year-old cousin.

But the girl’s aunt, Trenise Lyons, said Shamiya was with other children on the porch of a friend’s home when she was wounded after some males were firing shots in the area. Lyons, 32, also said Shamiya was at a sleepover.

Shamiya has two brothers — one is a twin, while the other is a teen, Lyons said.

“She was just a baby,” Lyons said. “She didn’t deserve this.”

Earlier Saturday, Shamiya’s great-grandmother, who joined about 20 other relatives in the Mount Sinai waiting room, pointed out the girl’s twin brother fighting to stay awake in his chair.

“He said he wasn’t gonna sleep until he saw his sister,” said the great-grandmother, who declined to give her name.

On Friday afternoon, three people, including a 12-year-old girl, were shot in the Humboldt Park neighborhood.

A man, a woman and the girl were on the street in the 700 block of North Ridgeway Avenue about 3:30 p.m. when someone approached on foot and fired at them, police said.

The 33-year-old woman was shot just above her right eye, while the 12-year-old girl suffered a graze wound to the left foot, police said. Both were taken in to Stroger Hospital.

The man, 44, suffered a graze wound to the calf and was treated at the scene, police said.

-- Contributing: Reema Amin and Luke Wilusz

Scene where Kajaunce Morton was shot / Photo by Alex Wroblewski

A 16-year-old boy was fatally shot inside a Grand Boulevard restaurant early Friday.

Kajaunce Morton was inside Alice’s Bar-B-Que at 65 E. 43rd St. when two males came inside and opened fire about 12:20 a.m. Friday, authorities said.

Morton tried to run away but was shot in the head, authorities said.

Morton, of the 600 block of East 37th Street, was taken to University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital, where he died at 7:10 p.m. Saturday, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Nobody has been charged for the murder.

Area Central detectives are investigating.

-- Sun-Times Media Wire

Jaquan Hardy was killed and four other people were wounded in two connected shootings Saturday night in the Austin neighborhood.

The first shooting happened when cab driver was picking up two passengers in the 900 block of North Mayfield Avenue when gunfire erupted about 6 p.m. Saturday, police said.

Hardy, 21, of the 5800 block of West Augusta Boulevard, was shot in the head as he was getting into the cab with a 43-year-old woman, authorities said. He died hours later at West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park.

The woman and the 53-year-old cab driver were also wounded, police said.

A short time later, two men playing basketball in the 900 block of North Massasoit Avenue heard what they thought were firecrackers and then were shot, police said.

One of the men, 26, was shot in the thigh and foot, police said. The other man 33, was shot in the right foot.

Police believe the two shootings were related, police said.

Nobody has been charged for the murder.

Area North detectives are investigating if the shootings were gang related.

-- Sun-Times Media Wire

Scene where Richard Velasquez was shot / Photo by Reema Amin

Richard Velasquez was killed in a Brighton Park neighborhood shooting that left another man wounded early Sunday.

Velasquez, 24, was inside a bar in the 4400 block of South Kedzie Avenue when a man walked in and opened fire about 2:35 a.m. Sunday, authorities said.

Velasquez was shot in the chest and died at the scene, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

A man in his 30s was also shot in the side and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, police said.

A witness said he was inside the bar, and when he went to the bathroom and heard gunshots. He said he came out and found the two victims on the floor.

The witness said he was “not surprised” the shooting occurred at the bar.

Nobody has been charged for the murder.

Area Central detectives are investigating.

-- Sun-Times Media Wire

Shamiya Adams' mother Shaneetha Goodloe (right) weeps at a vigil

BY MITCH DUDEK AND BRIAN SLODYSKO
Chicago Sun-Times

On Sunday afternoon, mourners called on God, the mayor, absentee parents and police to help stop gun violence two days after a stray bullet entered a West Side home where 11-year-old Shamiya Adams was attending a slumber party. She was shot in the head and died.

The girl’s mother, Shaneetha Goodloe, wept as family members held her at a vigil steps away from where her daughter was shot Friday night on the 3900 block of West Gladys in the West Garfield Park neighborhood.

Shamiya’s twin brother stayed close to family members at the service. The boy’s aunt, Renee Williams, said he’s devastated. “We’re going to have to wrap our arms around each other and draw strength from each other,” she said.

Ald. Jason Ervin (28th) reiterated that there was an $8,000 reward for information leading to the shooter, and he struggled to explain his emotions.

“She was doing what children should do, and it’s tough. I just don’t know how to describe it. It’s tough,” he said.

Sharonda Jones, who was hosting the sleepover and was about to microwave gooey marshmallow s’mores when the bullet was fired, stopped wandering the crowd of mourners outside her house for a moment Sunday to reflect. She said she’s angry and wants her best friend back.

“She treated me like a real sister,” said Sharonda, 11, who attended Melody Elementary School with Shamiya. “I’m going to really, really miss her.”

Sharonda described the bloody moments after the fatal gunshot.

“We started screaming. We started jumping up and down and going crazy,” she said, referring to her sleepover pals. “I want the shooter arrested for the rest of his life.”

Shamiya’s cousin, Jarias Boose, 10, also attended the vigil.

“I want to say that I love her, and I always will,” he said. “I’ll miss how she used to dance and sing. And she used to eat a lot. Like when we had pizza, she’d have more pizza than me.”

A group of motorcyclists from the Chicago Ruff Ryders club who attended Sunday’s vigil locked arms to form a circle around the family as the crowd, numbering over 200 people, prayed. After a closing prayer, members of the group revved their engines and each biker held up one hand to honor Shamiya.

Earlier Sunday at a separate memorial service, Shamiya’s pastor said words alone could not accurately capture how “despicable” and “senseless” her death was.

“I don’t think you can have words to phrase it, to talk about how despicable it is,” the Rev. George W. Daniels said at First Baptist Congregational Church.

Several of Shamiya’s friends sobbed at the front of the church as the congregation prayed for them.

Speaking to reporters, Daniels lamented Shamiya’s death.

“Children should have hope, they should have dreams,” he said. “It’s bad enough for gang-bangers to be shooting up each other — but when our babies are being killed, there’s something horrific about that.

Shamiya Adams / Family photo

He called on leaders at the federal and local level to enact stronger gun control measures.

“This act of violence — people having handguns and destroying the lives of others — it doesn’t make sense,” Daniels said. “Something has to be done about this gun control.”

The bullet — fired by a gunman in the street outside Friday night — flew across a vacant, grassy lot, through an open window and then a wall, striking Shamiya in the head, authorities said.

And just like that, Adams became the latest in a long line of child murder victims caught in the crossfire of Chicago gun violence.

“Every time we have a child that gets killed, they have signs that say ‘Don’t shoot, I want to grow up.’ Well, they mean that,” Shamiya’s great-grandmother Lourene Miller said Saturday night as about 150 weeping mourners gathered to pray at the murder scene.

On Sunday, police had made no arrests but they think the shooting was spurred by a gang-related drug-trafficking dispute.

The gunman fired from either a vacant lot or a building just southeast of where Shamiya was killed, said Harrison District Cmdr. Glenn Evans, who vowed that his officers will find the killer.

Shamiya was the 34th child victim of homicide in Chicago this year, adding her name to a depressingly long list that in recent years included innocents such as Hadiya Pendleton and Jonylah Watkins.

-- Contributing: Becky Schlikerman

Prosecutors said Martel Halbert fatally shot Terrance McNeal as he rode his motorcycle May 4 in the Austin neighborhood. Reader "Ke Ke MissingmyhubbyBobbyord M" posted this about the charges:

So grateful that the CPD put the needed time and effort into finding my fiancé as well as my daughter's father killer. THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH and I don't know how I ever would have been able to make it without knowing who was responsible for this. THANK YOU

Michael Wade / Photo from Chicago Police

Michael Wade was denied bond Tuesday for allegedly fatally shooting Malcolm Stuckey and wounding two other men during an Englewood birthday party in May.

Wade, 23, was charged with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder for the May 29 shooting in the 5700 block of South LaSalle Street, authorities said.

Wade and another man left the party in a gray vehicle, but returned about 45 minutes later and parked in an alley near the home, prosecutors said. The men allegedly got out of the car with loaded guns and headed to the front of the residence.

Stuckey, 19, and two other people were sitting on the front porch when the gunmen approached, authorities said.

Wade and his friend opened fire on the porch, according to prosecutors, who added Stuckey and another man attempted to flee down LaSalle Street but were shot.

Stuckey, of the 16000 block of Carrington Drive in South Holland, was shot in the head and died later that day, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The 23-year-old man who attempted to run down the street and a 24-year-old man who attempted to run inside were both wounded, police said.

After the shooting, Wade and the other shooter ran back to the car and fled, prosecutors said.

Wade admitted to police that he went to the party to act as muscle for his friend, who was going to confront a guy who was “steady eyeballing him,” prosecutors said. Wade, of the 7200 block of South Champlain Avenue, further admitted to firing a gun 15 or 16 times at one of the victims, authorities said.

More than 20 shell casings were recovered, prosecutors said.

The other shooter has not yet been charged.

-- Sun-Times Media Wire

Adarrius Thompson was fatally stabbed during a domestic dispute that also left his 50-year-old mother seriously injured. Reader "warrmack" posted this about the attack:

No more nobel [sic] way to go out than protecting your mom. RIP I hope you get the pass to heaven for laying down your life for your Mom.

Demond Parnell was killed in a Monday night shooting outside his Edgewater neighborhood home.

Parnell, 34, was walking in the 5200 block of North Kenmore Avenue when someone walked up, started a conversation then shot him once in the chest about 10 p.m. Monday, authorities said.

Parnell, who lived on the block, died at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center less than an hour later, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Nobody has been charged for the murder.

Area North detectives are investigating if the shooting is gang related.

-- Sun-Times Media Wire

Sam Aguilar was fatally shot Tuesday in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood.

Aguilar, 33, was on a sidewalk in the 6300 block of South Francisco Avenue when an SUV drove by and someone inside opened fire about 2 a.m., authorities said.

Aguilar, of the 1500 block of West Walton Street, was shot in the abdomen and died at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn at 10:16 a.m., authorities said.

Nobody has been charged for the murder.

Area Central detectives are investigating.

-- Sun-Times Media Wire

Scene where Shamiya Adams was killed / Photo by Alex Wroblewski

BY BECKY SCHLIKERMAN
Chicago Sun-Times

Mayor Rahm Emanuel visited with Shaneetha Goodloe, the mother of murdered 11-year-old Shamiya Adams, for a second time Tuesday evening as police continued to investigate the high-profile shooting.

The mayor “wanted to go check in on her and to again let her know the entire city is thinking of them,” said Kelley Quinn, Emanuel’s spokeswoman.

Shamiya and her friends were about to make s’mores in the microwave before the fatal shot rang out Friday night.

She was at a sleepover in a West Garfield Park home when a gunman outside fired an errant shot that struck her in the head. She died the next morning. Emanuel visited her family on Saturday.

WMAQ-Channel 5 reports that investigators were speaking to at least one person of interest in the case. But police would not confirm that anyone was in custody Tuesday night.

Shamiya’s family declined to comment Tuesday night.

-- Contributing:Alex Wroblewski