Darren Foggey / Photo from Facebook

BY ANGELIQUE WHITE
Homicide Watch Chicago

Judge Donald Panarese called 15-year-old Rasaan Price“a danger to society” after prosecutors detailed how he allegedly fatally shot 16-year-old Darren Foggey through a bedroom window.

Foggey was watching television with friends in his bedroom in the 6700 block of South Artesian Avenue when Price walked up and fired a single shot into the first floor window about 9:25 p.m. June 23, said Assistant State’s Attorney Colleen Rogers.

Foggey, who was “sitting in the window,” was struck in the neck, Rogers said.

Price ran away after the shooting, but multiple witnesses identified him as the gunman and portions of the attack were captured on surveillance video from a nearby business, Rogers said.

Police initially said the shooting could be gang related.

Price was arrested Monday and charged as an adult with one count of first-degree murder, authorities said.

“It’s sad when you’ve got 15-year-olds killing 16-year-olds with handguns,” Panarese said Tuesday before ordering Price held without bond.

Price lives with his mother and recently finished his freshman year at Bowen High School, where he played on the basketball team, according to family and his public defender.

After the court hearing, Price’s family noted he didn’t live in the area and believe police arrested the wrong person.

“He was a good kid, and very well mannered,” said Price’s aunt, Michelle Doty. “He has a conscience.”

Doty added that authorities “need to start holding grown folks accountable” for providing guns to teenagers.

Price will be back in court Aug. 18.

Scene where Alvin Ivy was shot / Photo from NVP News Video

A 49-year-old man was killed in a Tuesday night shooting that also left two teenage boys wounded on the Near West Side.

Alvin Ivy and the teenagers were standing on a sidewalk in the 200 block of South Western Avenue when a male got out of a dark car and opened fire about 10 p.m., authorities said.


Ivy, of the 1300 block of South Kedzie Avenue, was shot in the chest and died at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County a short time later, authorities said.

The teenagers, 17 and 18, were each shot in the leg and taken to Stroger Hospital for treatment, police said.

Nobody has been charged for the murder.

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

William Allen / Photo from Facebook

BY KALEY FOWLER
Homicide Watch Chicago

Deonta Noble was ordered held without bond Wednesday after prosecutors said he fatally shot William Allen this month in the South Chicago neighborhood.

Allen was talking with a 19-year-old woman and 47-year-old man on a porch near East 80th Street and South Muskegon Avenue when Noble and an acquaintance approached and asked Allen about his gang affiliation about 11:20 p.m., authorities said.

When Noble's acquaintance accused Allen of being affiliated with the Mafia gang the two opened fire on Allen and the woman, said Assistant State's Attorney Beth Novy.

Allen, 25, of the 3500 block of South State Street, was shot in the head and hand and died the next day at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Allen, who had a twin brother, worked two jobs to help support his daughter, according to a Giveforward.com page.

The man and woman were also wounded, but survived, police said.

Witnesses identified Noble and his acquaintance, and provided police with photos from their Facebook pages, Novy said. They later identified Noble in a lineup.

Noble, 17, of the 7500 block of South Phillips Avenue, was charged with murder and Judge Donald Panarese ordered him held without bond on Wednesday.

He had previously been convicted of residential burglary in 2009 and criminal trespass to a vehicle in 2008.

Noble's acquaintance has not yet been charged.

BY EMILY BROSIOUS AND KALEY FOWLER
Homicide Watch Chicago

Many Austin neighborhood youths considered area business owner Damion Bryant a role model, friends said.

“Everybody looked up to him,” said friend Deangelo Henderson. “All the young guys including myself looked up to him.”

Bryant, 32, was fatally shot in the head during a drive-by shooting outside his home in the 5200 block of West Quincy Street about 8 p.m. July 11, authorities said. Three other people were wounded in the shooting.

Rev. Joe Davis believes the attack that killed his friend was random or a case of mistaken identity because nobody would target Bryant, who he described as “just a regular guy” who stayed out of trouble. However, court records indicate Bryant had a pending drug and armed robbery case when he was killed.

Davis described Bryant as a family man with several children who had a close relationship with his mother and sisters. He also owned several stores in the neighborhood and would help young people find work, Davis said.

“If you needed help, he was the first to be there,” Davis said. “You never had to worry about him doing something for you then turning around and talking about it to someone else. He was just a good guy.”

Henderson said Bryant lived on a quiet block, and his death will have a noticeable impact on the community.

“He was just one of the good people that was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Henderson said. “A lot of people depended on him and he took care of a lot of people. Things will be different without him.”

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

A recently demoted executive entered a Loop office building Thursday morning and shot the company’s CEO before turning the gun on himself and committing suicide, authorities said.

The shooting happened just before 10 a.m. at the ArrowStream company on the 17th floor of the Bank of America building at 231 S. LaSalle St.

“Apparently he was despondent over the fact that he got demoted,” Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said.

The company’s CEO, Steven LaVoie, 54, was in critical condition at Northwestern Memorial Hospital after being shot in the head and stomach, authorities said.

The alleged shooter was identified as Anthony DeFrances, a 59-year-old employee who had been told on Friday that was being demoted as the company downsizes, police said.

When the shooter, a longtime employee, produced the gun, the two men struggled over it before the CEO was shot.

McCarthy said 10 witnesses are being interviewed by police.

“I can’t see how this could have been a security issue,” McCarthy said. “This is basically a personal thing and unfortunately it’s turning out this way.”

The firm sells supply-chain management technology.

That block of LaSalle Street was closed to traffic as police officers flooded the scene.

Jay McKeon, who works at the Federal Reserve Bank in the Loop, says he saw a man being wheeled out of the building on a stretcher.

Ambaj Sharma, who works in the Chicago Board of Trade building, said his brother works on the 14th floor of 231 South LaSalle and wasn’t being allowed to leave the building.

-- Sun-Times staff

Samuel Walker Sr. (left) and Samuel Walker Jr. (right) / Family photo

BY BRIAN SLODYSKO AND MICHAEL LANSU
Chicago Sun-Times

Samuel Walker Sr. had been preparing for the funeral of his teenage son, Samuel Walker Jr., who was gunned down last Friday in East Garfield Park.

Now his family must decide whether to hold a joint memorial instead.

On Thursday, the elder Walker was shot to death in a Humboldt Park gangway — just two days before his 13-year-old son was to be laid to rest.

Walker just had his hair cut, and was on his way to get a cigarette, when he came across his killer near Division and Keeler about 9 a.m., those close to him said.

Authorities said Walker, a member of the Vice Lords street gang, bolted north up Keeler and into a gangway, attempting to flee the gunman, who chased him on foot.

Neighborhood resident Gail Reynolds, 54, said she was sitting on a bench beneath a tree when she saw a man run past on the other side of the street, followed by the crackle of gunfire. Walker was shot in the head and torso. He died at the scene, authorities said.

“That’s a cold motherf - - - - - who wants to shoot a motherf- - - - - in the morning,” Reynolds said. “I’m glad he didn’t shoot me.”

By noon, hundreds of onlookers gathered to mourn. An eerie silence crept over the crowd when authorities hoisted Walker’s body off the driveway and into a police wagon to be taken away.

Family members were upset and complained that his body had been lying outside more than three hours.

“Ants and s - - - are crawling all over him,” one relative said.

Later, firefighters hosed down the gangway, flushing Walker’s blood out to the street.

Family and friends gave conflicting accounts on whether Walker was a gang member. He had a criminal record, with convictions for weapons and stolen goods charges, according to court records. He also was facing an April 2014 charge of unlawful solicitation of a business and was charged with possession of marijuana in July.

Despite differing accounts about his gang affiliation, those close to him agreed the father of five was a “good person” who was well-known throughout the neighborhood — the kind guy who would keep an eye out for folks who lived on the block.

They noted that Walker was a rapper who put out his own CDs. He also loved hot wings, but was a terrible cook, said Monica Butler, 34, an ex-girlfriend, who remained close to Walker and saw him Thursday before he was killed. Butler insisted that Walker was not in a gang.

Butler said friends and family were still reeling from the death of Walker’s son, who was walking to buy some chips when he was killed last Friday evening in what police think was a gang-related shooting near California and Flournoy. Samuel Jr. was shot to death when someone opened fire on a group of people. Six other people, including two other teenage boys, were wounded in that shooting.

Scene where Samuel Walker Sr. was shot / Photo by Michael Lansu

“We were getting prepared for his son’s funeral and now we have got another one,” Butler said.

“He wasn’t even able to bury his own son,” added her sister, Barbara Figueroa, 46.

Sandra Williams, the boy’s aunt, said he had just finished summer school and planned to attend Manley Career Academy next school year.

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

On Thursday, the Rev. James Stevenson of nearby New Hope Missionary Baptist Church said the area where Walker was killed has been “extremely hot” with conflict.

“Every time I turn on the news, kids are getting killed,” said Samuel Walker Sr.’s aunt, who asked not to be named. “Do we have to wear bulletproof garments from our head to our toes?”

On July 1, 16-year-old Lafayette Walker was shot to death footsteps from where Samuel Walker Sr. was killed. Lafayette Walker was not related to Samuel Walker Sr.

“This stuff is like an epidemic,” Stevenson said.

-- Contributing: LeeAnn Shelton

A 58-year-old man has been charged with reckless homicide for a crash involving a CTA bus that killed 71-year-old Frank Kiley Wednesday morning in the Edgewater neighborhood.

Vladimir Tsemekhman was also cited for reckless driving and not practicing due care towards a pedestrian in the roadway, police said.

Tsemekhman was allegedly speeding north on Sheridan Road when he failed to stop at a traffic light and caused a chain-reaction crash involving four other vehicles at 11:12 a.m. Wednesday, police said.

After the crash, Tsemekhman allegedly attempted to drive around a No. 147 CTA bus stopped in traffic and fatally struck Kiley, authorities said.

Kiley, of the 3900 block of North Clark Street, died at the scene, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Five other people were hospitalized, including the bus driver and a passenger, authorities said.

Tsemekhman, of the 800 block of West Belle Plaine Avenue, is scheduled to appear in court Friday for a bond hearing.

-- Sun-Times Media Wire

Randon Walker / Photo from Chicago Police

A Mississippi man has been charged with murder in the September 2013 shooting death of Rubin Austin in the Humboldt Park neighborhood.

Randon Walker, 23, of the 300 block of Mulberry Street in Lexington, Miss., was ordered held on $2 million bond during a Friday court hearing.

Police found Austin, 25, lying on the sidewalk in the 3600 block of West Augusta Boulevard at 12:47 a.m. Sept. 20, 2013, authorities said.

Austin, of the 1100 block of North Ridgeway, was shot in the chest and pelvis and died minutes later at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, authorities said.

Investigators identified Walker as the shooter and he was arrested in Mississippi on July 20 before being extradited to Chicago, police said. He will be back in court Aug. 20.

-- Sun-Times Media Wire

Devin Pope was shot to death early Friday in the South Shore neighborhood.

Officers responding to a call of a person down found Pope, 23, shot to death in the entryway of an apartment in the 6700 block of South Clyde Avenue about 3:40 a.m., authorities said.

Pope, of the 7200 block of South Paxton 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

BY KALEY FOWLER
Homicide Watch Chicago

Chicago finished July with 39 murders, a significant decrease compared to Julys of recent years.

The 39 killings were a 17 percent decrease from 2013, when 47 people were murdered in July, according to police data. It was also a 20 percent decrease from 2012 and a 29 percent decrease from 2011, when 55 people were murdered in July.

This year, 13 of the 39 murders happened over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, when at least 58 other people were shot and wounded. However, the second half of the month was far less violent and had two four-day stretches without a homicide.

Overall, police reported 210 murders in the first seven months of 2014 -- a 7 percent decrease from the 227 killings in the first seven months of 2013 and a 30 percent decrease from 302 slayings over the same period in 2012.

The final murder of the month happened July 31 when 34-year-old Samuel Walker was chased down a Humbold Park street and shot dead in a driveway, authorities said. Walker's son, 13-year-old Samuel Walker Jr., had been shot to death just a week earlier in the East Garfield Park neighborhood.

Chicago Police spokesman Martin Maloney said the first seven months of 2014 had fewer murders than any year since 1963.

The Cook County medical examiner's office, which counts killings different, had reported 232 homicides, including nine police involved shootings. Police have ruled some of the killings justified self defense or involuntary manslaughter.

Despite the drop in murders, police reported 127 more shooting victims in the first seven months of 2014 compared to the first period last year, according to police data.

Police reported 324 shooting victims in July 2013 compared to 274 in July 2013 and 334in 2012.

"Despite having the fewest murders to date since 1963, we know there is still much more work to be done,” Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said in a statement. “We will continue executing our strategy, putting more officers on the street in summer months, proactively intervening in gang conflicts, partnering with community leaders, and with the mayor’s leadership the city will continue investing in prevention programs for at-risk youth.”

-- Contributing: Michael Lansu

Scene where Ramon Breceda was shot / Photo from NVP News Video

Ramon Breceda, 16, was killed in a Little Village shooting that left two others wounded late Friday.

The three were in the 2400 block of South Washtenaw Avenue when two other males walked up and opened fire, police said.

Breceda, of the 2700 block of West 23rd Street, was shot in the chest and died at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, authorities said.

A 15-year-old boy was shot in the buttocks and an 18-year-old man was shot in the arm, police said. Both were taken to Mount Sinai Hospital for treatment.

Nobody has been charged for the murder.

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

-- Sun-Times Media Wire

Orlando Lomax was stabbed and beaten to death Friday night in the Humboldt Park neighborhood.

Lomax, 28, was walking on a sidewalk in the 3900 block of West North Avenue when four males walked up and started a fight about 11:30 p.m., authorities said.

During the fight, Lomax was stabbed in the back, authorities said.

Lomax, of the 1500 block of North Karlov, died at Mount Sinai Hospital minutes later, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

An autopsy confirmed that Lomax died from both a stab wound and blunt trauma to the head, according to the medical examiner's office. His death was ruled a homicide.

Nobody has been charged for the murder.

Area North detectives are investigating.

Andrew Anania / Photo from Chicago Police

Three people have been charged with the murder for the late Friday shooting death of 16-year-old Ramon Breceda in the Little Village neighborhood, authorities said.

Andrew Anania, 18, and two 15-year-old boys were each charged with first-degree murder, according to police, who were not releasing the names of the 15-year-olds because they are juveniles.

Breceda and two others were in the 2400 block of South Washtenaw when at least two males walked up and opened fire about 11:30 p.m. Friday, authorities said.

Breceda, of the 2700 block of West 23rd Street, was shot in the chest and died Saturday at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, authorities said.

Breceda's acquaintances were wounded but survived, police said. A 15-year-old boy was shot in the buttocks and an 18-year-old man was shot in the arm, police said.

Police said the shooting could be gang related.

Anania, of the 2400 block of South Troy Street, is scheduled to appear for a bond hearing Sunday, police said.

-- Sun-Times Media Wire

BY BRIAN SLODYSKO
Chicago Sun-Times

Chicago Police shot at – but did not wound – a man they saw running away from a fatal shooting near a nightclub on the Near North Side early Sunday.

The fatal shooting occurred on the block of nightclub Bodi at 873 N. Orleans St. Rapper Nas was scheduled to host a party at the club following his Saturday Lollapalooza performance, according to the club’s website.

Police said officers were on patrol in the area when they heard gunshots about 3:50 a.m. Officers tried to “engage” a man who was fleeing scene, but failed to stop him, according to a police spokeswoman. An officer fired his gun at the man, but did not hit him, police said.

Martrell Ross, 32, of the 300 block of South Mozart Street, was found dead in a nearby alley with a gunshot wound in his abdomen, authorities said.

A 21-year-old man was also shot in the chest and taken in serious condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, police said.

A spokesman for the Independent Police Review Authority, which investigates police-involved shootings, said the agency is not conducting an investigation of the officer’s use of force because he did not strike the man he fired at.

A representative of the club could not be reached for comment.

Another Lollapalooza performer, Big Boi of the duo Outkast, also played in the neighborhood Saturday night. He performed at Parliament nightclub near Chicago Avenue and Orleans Street, about a block south of Bodi.

From the stage at Lollapalooza, Big Boi had lamented recent violent incidents at Lollapalooza and in the city, declaring:

“I know there’s been some trouble in Chicago — gotta put those guns down and crunk with some herb.”

-- Contributing: Sun-Times Media Wire

A 46-year-old man has died nearly two weeks after being shot in the Englewood neighborhood.

Antwan James was in an alley in the 1200 block of West 72nd Place when someone walked up and opened fire about 9 p.m. July 21, authorities said.

He was shot in the chest, leg, hip and arm, police said.

James, of the 8000 block of South Carpenter Street, was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died at 9:08 a.m. Sunday, 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

Andrew Anania / Photo from Chicago Police

BY MATT MCKINNEY
For Chicago Sun-Times

A Chicago man and two teenagers were ordered held without bond Sunday in connection with the killing of 16-year-old Ramon Breceda in the Little Village neighborhood Friday evening.

Andrew Anania, 18; Ricardo Cortez, 15, and Eduardo Moreno, 15, were charged with first-degree murder in connection with the killing.

The accused were aspiring members of the Latin Kings, and shooting a rival gang member was part of their initiation, prosecutors said.

Anania, of the 2400 Block of South Troy Street, is accused of firing a 9-millimeter handgun at Breceda in the 2400 block of South Washtenaw Avenue, authorities said.

Breceda fired back at Anania and Cortez, hitting Anania in the arm and Cortez in the buttocks, prosecutors said.

Breceda, of the 2700 block of West 23rd Street, was shot in the chest and was taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, where he was pronounced dead at 12:17 a.m. Saturday, authorities said.

Police in the area for “gun-suppression operations” heard the gunshots and saw Moreno running from the area, prosecutors said.

“I wasn’t the one with the gun!” Moreno allegedly told police, according to court records.

He allegedly told police later that he had been involved in the shooting, prosecutors said.

“I will not release dangerous people on the streets,” Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr. said in court Sunday as he ordered all three held without bond.

William Lewis / Submitted photo

BY MITCH DUDEK
Chicago Sun-Times

To feel closer to him, every day Maria Lewis visits the bus stop where her husband, Wil, was killed by stray gang gunfire last month in Rogers Park.

She sits against a building, beneath a bullet hole in a window frame — the last remnant of the afternoon Wil died, and she tells him what’s been happening since then. He was 28.

On Thursday, she had good news: Detectives phoned to tell her that the person they think pulled the trigger, as well as an accomplice who fled on foot, had been arrested in Racine, Wis., where they were hiding out.

Maria Lewis, 30, shared the details of her life on a memorial website dedicated to raising money to cover funeral costs and a scholarship in Wil’s name.

“I’ve been very busy with all those things related to death of a spouse. For now, I’m staying in Chicago so I can feel closer to Wil,” she said in an entry posted Thursday.

Michael Phillips, 17, and Denzel Burke, 15, were in the custody of the Racine County Sheriff’s Department on Sunday night. They were arrested last week on first-degree murder warrants that had been issued in Cook County. Phillips lives in the Uptown neighborhood, in the 800 block of West Windsor Avenue, about a mile from Burke’s home in the 800 block of West Grace Street in Lake View.

“For me this is very bitter sweet, I am happy but so very sad. I guess it is a baby step toward closure,” Maria wrote on the website.

She also recounts the last few hours of Wil’s life, details she cobbled together through receipts. He bought nine red bins at an office supply shop “to make our ugly shelf more presentable.”

“After that at 2:12 he ate lunch at Jimmy Johns. Which I was surprised at because he does not like JJ; it must have been the best thing he walked past that had food.”

After that, he began to walk home and was passing a bus stop when gunfire rang out.

Maria wrote that she learned that nearby residents and passersby pointed out one of the suspects to police, snapped photos of people fleeing the scene, and rushed to Wil’s side in his final moments.

“I was told there were multiple civilians that rushed to help Wil, so he was not alone. I am thankful for swift justice and lots of evidence but I am most thankful that caring and kind souls didn’t let Wil perish alone on the street.

“Thank you again for your support and prayers. I am glad I don’t have to go through this alone.”

Last week’s arrests came about two weeks after Eric Vaughn, 31, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. He was accused of handing the gun to one of the passengers in his car and ordering him to shoot a rival gang member. He allegedly told the gunman to “wet that T-shirt up” — meaning make the rival gang member bleed.

Eric Vaughn / Photo from Chicago Police

Two passengers got out of the car and fired about 10 shots at the rival. The 19-year-old intended target was not struck, but Wil Lewis was shot in the back.

Vaughn was arrested on foot shortly after the shooting when witnesses identified him to police as the driver of the vehicle. Vaughn, of the 4400 block of North Clarendon Avenue, was ordered held on no bail.

The warrant for Burke carried a bail of $750,000. Phillips’ warrant ordered that the teen be held without bail.

Lewis, who had just moved into a new apartment in Rogers Park with his wife, was about to start a new job as a photographer for Trunk Club, an online men’s clothing store, when he was killed. He had escaped poverty in Guatemala when he was adopted at age 7. He was raised in Wisconsin, attended art school in Milwaukee and moved to Chicago two years ago.

Brian Davis was shot to death in the West Garfield Park neighborhood Sunday evening.

Davis, 33, was shot in the back in the 4100 block of West Jackson Boulevard about 7:25 p.m., authorities said.

Davis, of the 200 block of South Central Avenue, died at Mount Sinai Hospital at 7:57 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Nobody has been charged for the murder.

Area North detectives are investigating.

-- Sun-Times Media Wire

Jerome N. Harris was killed in a Morgan Park neighborhood shooting Sunday night.

Harris, 17, was shot in the neck in the 1100 block of West 112th Place about 9 p.m. Sunday, authorities said.

Harris, of the 11000 block of South State Street, was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died about an hour later, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

He was convicted in February of assaulting a police officer, according to court records. He was sentenced to three years in prison for the assault and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, but was released on parole in March.

Nobody has been charged for the murder.

Area South detectives are investigating.

-- Sun-Times Media Wire