By JEFF MAYES
Homicide Watch Chicago
Chicago Police geared up for the Memorial Day weekend by adding more than 1,200 officers to the ranks for the unofficial start of summer. They also arrested dozens of suspected gang members, hoping to stem weekend violence by keeping them off the streets.
And while the weekend started calmly, with only one fatal shooting the first two days, a rash of violence earlier in the week still left last week's death toll at 12.
The only fatal shooting reported during the first days of the holiday weekend was a 16-year-old boy who was killed in a shooting Sunday evening in the West Side Lawndale neighborhood, an incident that also left a and a 16-year-old girl wounded.
The teens were in a gangway about 6:30 p.m. in the 1600 block of South St. Louis when someone fired shots at them from a passing gray car, according to police. Daishawn Moore, 16, was shot in the back and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died minutes later, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
He lived in the same neighborhood as where the shooting happened. The girl suffered a graze wound to the back and was also taken to Mount Sinai, police said.
Two other men died over the weekend, but the deaths were the result of injuries suffered days earlier.
- A 25-year-old man died Saturday afternoon, three days after being wounded in a shooting in the Southwest Side Gage Park neighborhood. Oscar Enrique Bravo was standing on the sidewalk in the 2600 block of West 54th Street at 12:52 p.m. Wednesday, May 24, when the driver of a red minivan got out of his vehicle and fired three shots, striking him in the upper right back and left hip, according to police and the medical examiner's office. Bravo was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 2:23 p.m. Saturday. Bravo lived only blocks away from where he was shot.
- A 30-year-old man also died Saturday, more than a week after he was shot in the Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side. Brandon Phipps was sitting in a vehicle about 9:15 a.m. May 19 in the 3100 block of West 13th when someone got out of another vehicle and shot at him, striking him in his left side, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Phipps, who lived in Lawndale, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died Saturday at 5:18 p.m. An autopsy Monday found he died of multiple gunshot wounds, the medical examiner’s office said.
- A woman was killed and a boy wounded Thursday afternoon in an Avalon Park neighborhood shooting on the South Side. Chastity Johnson, 18; and a 17-year-old boy were walking about 2:30 p.m. when two people walked up to them in the 8100 block of South Kimbark and fired shots, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Johnson was shot in the chest and died at Stroger Hospital an hour later. An autopsy Friday found she died of multiple gunshot wounds. The boy was shot in the back and the leg, and was taken to Stroger in critical condition, police said.
- A man has been charged with fatally shooting another man earlier Thursday during a home invasion in the West Englewood neighborhood on the South Side. Waddel Adams, 31, has been ordered held without bond, charged with murder, murder while committing another forcible felony, home invasion with a firearm, and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, according to police.
Adams was identified as the armed suspect who forced his way into 30-year-old Bobby Lloyd’s apartment at 11:47 a.m. Thursday in the 6500 block of South Laflin, police said. Adams allegedly fired a gun at Lloyd, striking him multiple times in the chest and torso. Lloyd was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died about an hour later. Adams, who lives in Englewood, was arrested about 15 minutes after the shooting, police said.
- A man was found shot to death in a vehicle earlier Thursday morning in the South Chicago neighborhood. Officers were called at 8:06 a.m. and found 27-year-old Scott T.L. Coleman slumped over in a vehicle in the 8200 block of South Escanaba with a gunshot wound, police and the medical examiner’s office said. Coleman was taken to Trinity Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
- A 16-year-old boy was found shot to death Wednesday night in the South Shore neighborhood. Officers responded to a call of shots fired about 9:20 p.m. and found Alandis Allison lying on the ground in the 7700 block of South Marquette, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Allison, who lived in the same neighborhood, had been shot at least once in the head and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
- A man was shot to death Tuesday night in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side. Witnesses said a male suspect with a handgun fired shots at 19-year-old Lamanta Reese, striking him multiple times at 7:47 p.m. in the 700 block of West Marquette, police and medical examiner’s office said. Reese, of the South Shore neighborhood, was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn with gunshot wounds to his head, groin, shoulder and abdomen; and was pronounced dead. No one was in custody.
- A man was shot and killed early Tuesday in the East Side neighborhood on the Far South Side. Jose Gomez, 28, was in his vehicle at 2:11 a.m. in the 9800 block of South Avenue H when another vehicle drove up, someone inside fired shots and then drove away, according to police and the medical examiner's office. Gomez was shot in the head and was pronounced dead at the scene at 2:31 a.m. His home address was unknown.
- A man was shot to death Monday night in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side. At 7:52 p.m., 27-year-old Jamie Jones was driving west in the 200 block of West 59th Street when someone in another vehicle opened fire, striking him in the chest, back and arm, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Jones, who lived in the South Side Park Manor neighborhood, was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:55 p.m.
- A man was shot to death Monday morning in the South Side Auburn Gresham neighborhood. Antoine Alexander, 24, was sitting in a vehicle in the 8400 block of South Hermitage at 11:27 a.m. when a single shooter walked up and fired several rounds, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Alexander, who lived in the same block, was shot in the buttocks and back, and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead at 12:10 p.m.
- A 35-year-old man died early Monday after being stabbed during an argument late Sunday in the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side. Jermaine R. James was arguing with another male about 11:45 p.m. in the alley in the 400 block of East 79th Street when the suspect pulled out a knife and stabbed James multiple times in the body, according to police and the medical examiner's office. James, who lived in the same neighborhood, was pronounced dead at the scene about 25 minutes later. The suspect ran away after the attack.