By JEFF MAYES
Chicago Sun-Times Wire
At least 16 people were killed in violence in Chicago last week as the city's homicide total passed the 100 mark less than two months into the year. The week's victim included an engaged couple and their unborn child, and a baby who had survived 5 months after her mother died in another shooting last fall.
The 100th and 101st reported homicides of the year happened early Saturday in the Woodlawn neighborhood as 2017 kept pace with the homicide total of 2016, which ended with nearly 800, the most in two decades.
Just before 1 a.m., two people in hooded sweatshirts opened fire into a crowd at a party in the 6500 block of South Drexel, hitting 20-year-old Lance A. Jefferson in the face and torso; and 37-year-old Samuel D. Head in the chest, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Jefferson, of the Washington Park neighborhood; and Head, who lived on the same block as the shooting, died at the scene, authorities said. Additionally, a 29-year-old woman suffered a graze wound to the thigh and was taken in good condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital. No one was in custody for the shooting.
The homicides occurred on Feb. 26, while in 2016, the 100th and 101st homicides happened on Feb. 24. The year ended with 781 homicides, according to Chicago Sun-Times records.
- One of those 2016 homicides took the life of Parasha M. Beard, who was shot on Sept. 19, while sitting in a car parked in the 8700 block of South Marquette in South Chicago when another vehicle pulled alongside and a gunman opened fire, authorities said at the time. Beard, 19, was about 7 months pregnant when she died at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, but doctors were able to save her unborn child.But the baby, A’Miracle Jones, died Thursday at the same hospital, according to the medical examiner’s office. She was 5 months old and an autopsy found she died of complications of prematurity and maternal death due to a gunshot wound. Her death was ruled a homicide.
- A shooting Wednesday night in the Chatham neighborhood claimed the lives of Wilteeah Jones, her boyfriend Malik K. Bingham, and the couple’s unborn child. About 8:15 p.m., officers responded to a shooting in the 7600 block of South Champlain and found Bingham, 20, at the wheel of a parked car, and Jones on a sidewalk nearby, police and the medical examiner’s office said.Jones, known to friends as Teeah, was 20 and expecting her first child, who was also killed. The baby, a girl, was to be named Mileah, family members said. Bingham, of the Morgan Park neighborhood, was shot in the neck; while Jones, who was about 8 months pregnant, suffered gunshot wounds to the abdomen and side.
- The week's final homicide, and the last homicide reported in the city as of Thursday morning, was a 23-year-old man shot to death Sunday morning in the North Lawndale neighborhood. James Morris was sitting in the driver’s seat of a parked minivan in the 1300 block of South Kedzie when a car drove by and someone inside opened fire at 10:48 a.m., according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Morris, who lived in the same neighborhood, was shot multiple times and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:15 a.m.
- Jose Rosas was killed in a drive-by shooting that left another man hurt earlier Sunday just a block from his home in the East Side neighborhood on the Far South Side. The two 18-year-olds were getting into a parked vehicle about 1:20 a.m. in the 10900 block of South Mackinaw when a silver car drove by and someone inside fired shots, according to police. Rosas was shot in the back, and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead at 2:27 a.m. The other man suffered a laceration to his left ear, thought to be cause by shattered glass.
- A man was shot to death in the Brainerd neighborhood Wednesday night on the South Side. Just before 9 p.m., 24-year-old Devell L. Coleman was on a sidewalk in the 9100 block of South Emerald when someone in a dark-colored car fired shots, hitting him in the head and back, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Coleman was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead less than half an hour later.
- A south suburban man was fatally shot Wednesday night in the Morgan Park neighborhood on the Far South Side. Jon Shupe, 31, was arguing with another person about 8:35 p.m. in the 11400 block of South Ada when that person shot him in the head and back, police and the medical examiner’s office said. Shupe, of Calumet City, was pronounced dead at the scene. A person of interest was questioned in connection with the shooting, but no charges had been filed as of a week later.
- A man was shot to death Wednesday evening in the Altgeld Gardens neighborhood on the Far South Side. Officers responded shortly after 7 p.m. to a call of a person shot and found 44-year-old Bobbie Jackson lying on the ground in the 900 block of East 133rd Street, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Jackson, who lived in the same neighborhood, was pronounced dead at the scene.
- A 60-year-old man was found shot to death Wednesday morning in a garage in the Little Village neighborhood on the Southwest Side. A family member found Jose Correa lying unresponsive on the floor of the garage in the 2700 block of South Central Park Avenue at 7:26 a.m., according to police and the medical examiner's office. Correa had suffered gunshot wounds to the back, neck and mouth; and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
- A 55-year-old man was shot to death early Wednesday in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side. Willie Shaw was arguing with another person, who pulled a gun and shot him in the leg at 12:51 a.m. in the 4500 block of South Cottage Grove, according to police and the medical examiner's office. Shaw was dead at the scene.
- A man was fatally shot in the left eye Tuesday night in Roseland on the Far South Side. Just after 9 p.m., 30-year-old Justin Thomas was on a sidewalk in the 10000 block of South Michigan when someone in a dark-colored car opened fire, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Thomas, was pronounced dead at the scene.
- Tiara Richmond, a 24-year-old transgender woman, was shot to death Tuesday morning in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side. Authorities originally identified her by her given name, Donnell Richmond. She also went by Keke Collier, according to LaSaia Wade, an advocate for transgender rights with Brave Space Alliance.Richmond was in a vehicle with a man at 6:14 a.m. in the 7300 block of South May Street when the man fired shots, police said. When officers arrived, they found Richmond lying on the ground nearby with gunshot wounds to her chest, arm and hand. She was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where she was pronounced dead at 7:03 a.m. Richmond was the second transgender woman killed in Chicago in less than six months, Wade said.
- A 27-year-old man was shot to death Monday night, also in Altgeld Gardens. Officers responding to a call of shots fired about 8:15 p.m. in the 900 block of East 132nd Street found Michael J. Lawrence-Harrington in a field with gunshot wounds to the chest and torso, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Lawrence-Harrington was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died an hour later.
- Two men stabbed each other during a fight early Monday in the East Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side, leaving one dead, police said. The men, ages 33 and 37, started fighting about 1:50 a.m. inside a home in the 3100 block of West Madison. The younger man, Delray Talbert, was stabbed in the chest and abdomen, and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died at 7:21 a.m., according to police and the medical examiner’s office. The older man was taken to Stroger Hospital in serious condition with a stab wound to the abdomen. Detectives questioned him, but he was released without being charged with a crime, police said Wednesday.