Kenneth Jackson / Photo from Chicago Police

BY JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times

A man has been charged with the shooting death of a Simeon Career Academy sophomore and football player who was gunned down two miles from his Chatham home in April.

Kenneth K. Jackson, 31, is charged with first-degree murder, murder, and mob action, all felonies, in connection with the death of 16-year-old Michael Flournoy III, according to a statement from Chicago Police.

Flournoy, who lived in the 8000 block of South Evans Avenue, was shot just before 8 p.m. April 5 in the 1000 block of East 93rd Street and died at the scene, officials said.

Family, friends and neighbors all described Flournoy as an ambitious, soft-spoken kid with a good head on his shoulders who steered clear of drugs and gangs. He had an interview for a summer job at Navy Pier scheduled for just a few days after he was killed, according to his grandfather, Samuel Woods.

The day Flournoy died, Woods said, the teen was on his way to pick up chips at a store on 93rd when he got into a fight with some other boys.

“They jumped on him,” Woods said at the time. “Beat him up. And then they shot him in the face.”

Woods said he used to drive Flournoy to the North Side to look at buildings. The boy loved cars, thought about becoming a firefighter, but really wanted to be an architect, Woods said.

Flournoy also played defensive back and wide receiver on the sophomore football team at Simeon.

“He was a great kid, around the school always helping people out. He was a very soft spoken young man, you would have to tell him to speak up just to hear him talk. Just a good kid,” Simeon football coach Dante Culbreath said at the time of Flournoy’s death.

-- Contributing: Jon Seidel, Michael O’Brien

Shamiya Adams' family is asking for help from the community to bury their daughter. The 11-year-old girl was killed after being hit in the head by a randomly fired bullet Friday night.

The family is seeking $5,000 in donations to help with the cost of the funeral, said Nannette Dailey, the girl’s grandmother. “We’re trying to do whatever we can to make sure my granddaughter can be put away decent,” the grieving woman said.

You can donate to the family through this site.

The Chicago Police are talking to a person of interest in the case, but no arrests have been made yet and no charges have been pressed.

Photographer Wil Lewis was fatally shot by an errant bullet while waiting for a bus in the Rogers Park neighborhood this month, prosecutors said. Reader "cerajae" posted this about him:

Wil was an example of a truly genuine, awesome human being and will be missed dearly. We were born 3 days apart on two separate continents but met in middle school and were meant to be friends. Guillermo, I'll miss you bud. Birthday buds forever man!

Christian Alvarez / Photo from Chicago Police

Two men have been charged in the shooting death of Sam Aguilar early Tuesday in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood.

Christian Alvarez, 18, and Antonio Castaneda, 31, were each charged with one count of first-degree murder, police said. Castaneda was also charged charged with aggravated battery to a peace officer and attempting to disarm a peace officer, police said.

Aguilar was standing on a sidewalk in the 6300 block of South Francisco Avenue when an SUV approached about 2 a.m. Tuesday and gunfire erupted, police said.

Aguilar, of the 1500 block of West Walton Street, was shot in the abdomen area and died at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn hours later, authorities said.

Antonio Castaneda / Photo from Chicago Police

During the arrest, Castaneda attempted to batter and disarm an officer, police said.

Alvarez, of the 5800 block of South Kedzie Avenue, and Castaneda, of the 6000 block of South Kedzie Avenue, were scheduled to appear in bond court Wednesday, police said.

-- Sun-Times Media Wire

Dayvon Bennett / Photo from Chicago Police

Dayvon Bennett has been charged with murder for allegedly fatally shooting Malcolm Stuckey and wounding two others during a May birthday party in the Englewood neighborhood.

Bennett, 19, was charged with one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder for the May 29 shooting in the 5700 block of South LaSalle Street, authorities said.

Michael Wade, 23, of the 7200 block of South Champlain Avenue, has previously been charged with murder and two counts of attempted murder, authorities said.

Bennett and Wade 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.

Bennett and Waded 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, Bennett and Wade 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.

Michael Wade / Photo from Chicago Police

More than 20 shell casings were recovered, prosecutors said.

Bennett, of the 16900 block of South Jodave Avenue in Hazel Crest, is expected to appear in court for a bond hearing later Thursday.

Judge Maria Kuriakos-Ciesil ordered Wade held without bond Tuesday. He will be back in court Aug. 12.

-- Sun-Times Media Wire

A 16-year-old boy was fatally shot Wednesday night when a bullet went through a window in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood.

Darren Foggey was shot was in a bedroom in the 6700 block of South Artesian Avenue when a bullet went through a window and struck him in the neck about 9:25 p.m., authorities said.

Foggey, of the 6900 block of South Artesian Avenue, died at the scene, 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

Tevin Lee / Photo from Chicago Police

A man has been charged in the weekend death of an 11-year-old girl who was shot in the head by an errant bullet during a sleepover in a West Garfield Park home.

Tevin Lee, 18, faces two separate counts of murder and one count of aggravated discharge of a firearm in connection with the death of Shamiya Adams, according to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office.

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RELATED: Shamiya Adams family asks for help with funeral

Kenneth Jackson / Photo from Chicago Police

BY RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times

Kenneth Jackson didn’t like the alleged comments Simeon High School football player Michael Flournoy made to his daughter.

So, he recruited his two friends and came back to the South Side store where he argued with Flournoy earlier, Cook County prosecutors said.

Jackson and his friends started punching and kicking the 16-year-old in the head and body that night on April 5, Assistant State’s Attorney Elizabeth Novy said.

When Flournoy fell to the ground at the store in the 1000 block of East 93rd Street, one of Jackson’s friends shot Flournoy in the head with the weapon he retrieved just before the fight, Novy said.

It was Jackson who had driven his friend to the location where he got the gun, Novy said.

Jackson and the two others fled in Jackson’s girlfriend’s car following the fatal shooting, Novy said.

Video surveillance shows the car at the scene of the crime, Novy said.

Jackson, 31, a father of five, was ordered held in lieu of $1 million bail Thursday on murder and mob action charges.

He allegedly admitted arguing with Flournoy, telling his cohorts and driving them to the store, knowing that one of the friends had a gun.

Jackson, of the 100 block of East 59th Street, was in Cook County Jail for an unrelated drug case when he was recently arrested for Flournoy’s murder, according to court records.

The two other men have not been charged.

Family, friends and neighbors all described Flournoy as an ambitious, soft-spoken kid with a good head on his shoulders who steered clear of drugs and gangs. He had an interview for a summer job at Navy Pier scheduled just a few days after he was killed, according to his grandfather, Samuel Woods.

The day Flournoy died, Woods said, the teen was on his way to pick up chips at the store on 93rd when he got into a fight with some other boys.

“They jumped on him,” Woods said at the time. “Beat him up. And then they shot him in the face.”

Woods said he used to drive Flournoy to the North Side to look at buildings. The boy loved cars, thought about becoming a firefighter, but really wanted to be an architect, Woods said.

Flournoy also played defensive back and wide receiver on the sophomore football team at Simeon.

“He was a great kid, around the school always helping people out. He was a very soft spoken young man, you would have to tell him to speak up just to hear him talk. Just a good kid,” Simeon football coach Dante Culbreath said at the time of Flournoy’s death.

-- Contributing: Jordan Owen

Tony Purnell / Photo from Cook County Sheriff's office

A Cook County Jail inmate has died a month after he was injured during a fight with another inmate.

Tony Purnell, 42, was hurt in the June 23 fight at Cook County Jail at 2600 S. California Ave., said Sophia Ansari, a spokeswoman for the Cook County Sheriff’s office.

Purnell died at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County at 12:47 a.m. Wednesday, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

An autopsy found Purnell died of complications from craniocerebral injuries from an assault and the death was ruled a homicide, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Purnell had been in the jail since January on a disorderly conduct charge, which was dropped in June, according to the sheriff's office. He was also charged with civil contempt in February.

Ansari said an investigation into the fight was ongoing, and no charges had been filed as of Wednesday afternoon.

-- Sun-Times Media Wire

James Jones / Photo from Chicago Police

James Jones has been charged with murder in the shooting death of Demarcus Boswell last month in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood.

Jones, 18, was also charged with attempted murder in the June 19 shooting in the 2800 block of West 71s Street.

Authorities said Boswell was walking on a sidewalk with a group of people when Jones approached on foot and fired multiple shots.

Boswell, of the 3300 block of West 65th Street, was shot multiple times and died less than an hour later at Holy Cross Hospital, authorities said.

Jones, of the 7000 block of South Artesian Avenue, was already being held at the Cook County Jail for a prior arrest when he was charged with the murder, according to police.

Gregory James / Photo from Chicago Police

Gregory James is the second man to be charged with murder in the shooting death of a 48-year-old cab driver Edwin Obazuaye last year on the South Side.

James, 29 of the 6400 block of South Richmond Street, was charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of forcible murder, police said. Eric Taylor, 28, had previously been charged with murder.

Obazuaye had picked up James and Taylor in the 8500 block of South Parnell about 5:45 p.m. March 14, 2013, authorities said.

When the men entered the cab they demanded the driver’s possessions, police said. After traveling about a mile, at least one of the men opened fire near South Lafayette Avenue and West 91st Street.

Obazuaye was shot twice, and the men ran off with his cell phone, authorities said.

Obazuaye, of South Holland, died four days later, authorities said.

Taylor is being held without bond, while James is being held on $2 million bond.

-- Sun-Times Media Wire

Anthony Edwards was fatally shot early Thursday at a West Pullman gas station.

Edwards, 39, was walking in the 11600 block of South Michigan Avenue when a male walked up and opened fire about 3:15 a.m. Thursday, authorities said.

Edwards, of the 12000 block of South Normal Avenue, was shot several times and died at the scene, authorities said.

Nobody has been charged for the murder.

Area South detectives are investigating.

Antonisha Johnston heard Samuel Walker shooting / Photo by Alex Wroblewski

BY MAUDLYNE IHEJIRIKA AND MEGAN GRAHAM
Chicago Sun-Times

It was a beautiful Friday evening, and members of the Nu Church Movement had arrived to set up its mobile ministry on a vacant lot in East Garfield Park neighborhood.

Youth on the block had flocked to the lot and joined the church group, some playing games, some in prayer, when church leader Lavieda Stewart, 24, saw a car drive by slowly from the corner of her eye.

Five minutes later, she heard a barrage of gunshots, looked up and saw two men standing outside that car shooting near the corner of West Lexington Street and South California Avenue.

When the gunfire was over, 13-year-old Samuel Walker was killed and six others were wounded, according to officials.

“I immediately gathered together the kids that I had,” Stewart said. “We circled together in the grass and started to pray. I was a little in shock. I’ve never seen someone shot. But because someone was fatally wounded, we decided to get the kids we brought out of here but stick around and pray with the community.”

No one was in custody for the shooting Saturday, but police said they are tracking down good leads in the case, which is believed to be gang-related.

Walker has a documented gang affiliation, police said.

Some of the other victims are also gang affiliated, police said.

Sandra Williams, Walker’s aunt, said her nephew had just finished summer school and was on his way to buy chips from a convenience store when he was shot.

She said he had just graduated eighth grade and summer school and planned to attend Manley Career Academy.

“He was a good kid. He loved basketball and swimming,” Sandra Williams said on the steps of her sister’s home on Saturday.

“This is just too much,” Williams said. “We can’t handle this.”

Williams said her nephew was on his way to buy chips from a convenience store when he was shot.

About 6 p.m. Friday, multiple people were standing in the 700 block of South California Avenue when they were shot, police said.

Walker, who was shot in the head, was pronounced dead at the scene at 6:22 p.m. Friday, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. He died about two blocks from his home in 3000 block of West Flournoy Street.

A 15-year-old boy was shot in the right foot and three 14-year-old boys were each shot in the left leg, police said. A 21-year-old man was shot in the right leg and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in serious condition, police said.

A 25-year-old man suffered a graze wound to the abdomen and was treated at the scene, police said.

“This is so sad,” said Loretta Young, 31, as tears welled in her eyes.

Young, who lives near the site of the shootings, said she was looking at a television newscast about 11-year-old shooting victim Shamiya Adams when she heard gunfire.

She said she immediately rushed to the shooting site because her 14-year-old daughter, Antoneshia, was with the church group.

“I went looking for my daughter and walked past the dead boy on street and two other bodies on the street,” Young said. “When it is your child, you will walk through a war zone. I found my daughter, and she was OK. She ran on someone’s porch.”

Young added that she knew the victims “from speaking to them on the way to school or on the way to work.”

“How can you be watching the news about the violence and it happens outside your home?” she asked. “This has to change.”

Police said they found a car nearby that they believed was used in the shooting. The vehicle appeared to be torched, they said.

The victims were among 10 people shot throughout the city Friday night. In one shooting, a 3-year-old boy was wounded while standing outside with his mother and another male about 10:10 p.m. Friday in the 4400 block of South Sacramento Avenue, police said.

A group of two females and a male walked past them, and when they reached the end of the block, the male turned around and fired, striking the boy in the right hip and abdomen, police said.

-- Contributing: Luke Wilusz and Tina Sfondeles

PHOTOS BY ALEX WROBLEWSKI
For Chicago Sun-Times

Samuel Walker, 13, was fatally shot Friday night as members of the Nu Church Movement set up its mobile ministry at a nearby vacant lot near South California Avenue and West Lexington Street in the East Garfield Park neighborhood.

PHOTOS BY JESSICA KOSCIELNIAK
Chicago Sun-Times

Shamiya Adams, 11, was fatally shot July 19 when an errant bullet entered a West Garfield Park home where she was attending a sleepover party. She was laid to rest Saturday.

BY MICHAEL LANSU
Homicide Watch Chicago Editor

Five people were shot throughout Chicago last week, including two teenage boys.

The most recent murder happened about 6 p.m. Friday when 13-year-old Samuel Walker was shot in the 700 block of South California Avenue, authorities said. Six other people were wounded in the shooting, according to police.

Sandra Williams, Samuel’s aunt, said her nephew had just finished summer school and was on his way to buy chips from a convenience store when he was shot.

Samuel was one of 26 people shot over the weekend. He was the only one who died.

On Thursday, 39-year-old Anthony Edwards was shot when a gunman opened fire on a gas station in the 11600 block of South Michigan Avenue about 3:15 a.m., authorities said.

Edwards, of the 12000 block of South Normal Avenue, was shot several times and died at the scene, authorities said.

On Wednesday, 16-year-old Darren Foggey was shot when a bullet went through a window in the 6700 block of South Artesian Avenue and struck him while in a bedroom about 9:25 p.m., authorities said.

Foggey, of the 6900 block of South Artesian Avenue, was shot in the neck and died at the scene, authorities said.

On Tuesday, 33-year-old Sam Aguilar was shot on a sidewalk in the 6300 block of South Francisco Avenue about 2 a.m. Aguilar, of the 1500 block of West Walton Street, died later that day at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

Authorities said 18-year-old Christian Alvarez, of the 5800 block of South Kedzie Avenue, and 31-year-old Antonio Castaneda, 6000 block of South Kedzie Avenue, were each inside a passing SUV from which the gunfire erupted. They were both charged with first-degree murder.

The first murder of the week happened when a gunman approached 34-year-old Demond Parnell outside his home in the 5400 block of North Kenmore Avenue about 10 p.m. Monday, authorities said. The gunman started a conversation then shot him in the chest, police said.

Additionally, Cook County Jail inmate Tony Purnell Wednesday from injuries suffered in a June 23 fight at the jail in the 2600 block of South Califorina Avenue, authorities said. The death was ruled a homicide.

Purnell had been in the jail since January on a disorderly conduct charge, which was dropped in June, according to the sheriff’s office. He was also charged with civil contempt in February.

Overall, the medical examiner’s office has ruled at least 230 Chicago deaths in 2014 a homicide — including eight people killed by police.

Additionally, the state’s attorney’s office filed first-degree murder charges against a speeding motorist who killed an off-duty police officer while trying to flee police even though the autopsy ruled the death an accident.

Chicago Police, which counts murders different, have ruled some of those homicides as involuntary manslaughter, justified self-defense or accidents.

Demond Parnell, 34, was fatally shot July 21 outside his Edgewater home. Reader "Tiffany" posted this about the killing:

I know for a fact that he was not a gang member! The police need to do their job and find the person who did this to my dear friend! Rip Demond ! Love Always!

A 15-year-old boy has been charged with murder in the shooting death of 16-year-old Darren Foggey last Wednesday night in the Chicago Lawn community.

Authorities said Foggey was inside a home in the 6700 block of South Artesian Avenue when he was shot about 9:25 p.m. June 23.

Foggey, of the 6900 block of South Artesian Avenue, was inside a bedroom when a bullet came through the window and struck him in the neck, authorities said. He died at the scene.

Detectives were initially investigating if the shooting was gang related.

Police announced Monday detectives identified and located the 15-year-old boy, who was charged as an adult with one count of first-degree murder. Police were not releasing the boy's name because he is a juvenile.

The boy is expected to appear for a bond hearing tomorrow at the Leighton Courthouse in the 2600 block of South California Avenue.

Inmate Tony Purnell, 42, was injured during a June 23 fight at the Cook County Jail and died about a month later. Reader "JRD" posted this about the killing:

Crazy how you can go in for disorderly conduct and end up not coming out. RIP tho