By JEFF MAYES
Homicide Watch Chicago
In one of the bloodiest weeks of the first half of the year, a total of 19 people were murdered in Chicago last week, including a visually-impaired teenager, a man shot to death by his stepson, and two young women who were the victims in murder-suicides.
Sun-Times file photo by Ashlee Rezin
The week started off with five fatal shootings on Memorial Day, the shooting of the physicaly and mentally handicapped teen, shot while playing basketball at a park across the street from his home.
Jervon Morris, 18, was shot in the head about 5:40 p.m. in the 9800 block of South Wallace, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
The special needs student and graduate of Curie Metro High School, lost most of his eyesight as a very young boy, and had other physical and mental impairments. But he loved to play basketball (by sound) and volunteer for kids' aprogram at the park across the street from his Longwood Manor home.
But he was in the park when he apprently got caught in the crossfire between gang members and was struck in the head, police said. Morris, who lived about a block away, was pronounced dead at the scene at 5:58 p.m.
Two of the other holiday shootings were domestic in nature.
A man and woman were found shot to death Monday morning in a murder-suicide in the South Side Bronzeville neighborhood. Tiara "Chiquita" Goodman, 25; and 32-year-old Marcel Davis were found about 10:50 a.m. in the hallway of her apartment building in the 2900 block of South State, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Both had been shot in the head.
Goodman was pronounced dead at 11:03 a.m., and the Davis at 12:24 p.m., according to the medical examiner’s office. A gun was recovered at the scene. Autopsies ruled Goodman's death a homicide. Davis, who was Goodman's ex-boyfriend, shot her in the head, then turned the gun on himself, according to authorities. His death was ruled a suicide.
Less than an hour later, a 52-year-old man was killed in a domestic-related shooting in the West Side Austin neighborhood. Oscar L. Clay got into an argument with his 27-year-old stepson in the 1700 block of North Narragansett at 1:32 p.m., and the younger man pulled out a handgun and shot him, according to police and Cook COunty prosecutors.
Clay, who lived in the home along with his wife and her son, was pronounced dead there, according to authorities. Clay's stepson, Leshaun Hodges, was arrested days later and charged with the murder. Prosecutors said Clay attempted to intervene in an argument between his wife and her son, and Hodges got a gun and shot him multiple times. He is being held without bond.
The week's other domestic-related murder occurred the following Sunday when a man suspected of fatally shooting his girlfriend Sunday afternoon in the Logan Square neighborhood on the Northwest Side was found dead hours later, police said. Shantae M. Nevith, 22, was shot during an argument about 12:25 p.m. in the 2500 block of West Lyndale, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Shot in the head and back, whe was taken to Stroger Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 1:57 p.m.
The man, identified as 22-year-old Charles Torrence Jr., ran away after the shooting. Police said he was found at 7:34 p.m. in the 4300 block of West Carroll with a gunshot wound to the head that appeared to be self-inflicted. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 7:44 p.m., authorities said.
Torrence Jr. and Nevith had lived togehter in the West Garfield Park neighborhood.
- The week's final homicide was shot to death early Sunday in the West Town neighborhood on the Near West Side. Officers responded to a call of shots fired at 3:14 a.m. and found Edward Mason, 41, lying on the ground in an empty lot in the 1800 block of West Maypole, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Mason, who lived in the North Center neighborhood, had been shot in the head and chest, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
- A man was killed and another wounded just minutes later and a few blocks away in West Town. The men, ages 33 and 34, were walking on the sidewalk about 3 a.m. in the 200 block of North Leavitt when multiple shooters fired at them, according to police. The 33-year-old, Mauriaze Waltize Cossom, was shot in the back and leg. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he died at 3:55 a.m., authorities said. The 34-year-old was also taken to Stroger Hospital with a gunshot wound to the right leg, and his condition was stabilized.
- A 19-year-old man died after being wounded in a shooting Saturday afternoon in the West Side Austin neighborhood. Someone walked up to Quinton Flowers at 1:06 p.m. in the 5400 block of West Cortez and shot him in the chest and body, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Flowers, who lived in the same block, was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he was pronounced dead about 6 hours later.
- A man was shot to death earlier Saturday in Englewood. Novajah Ringold, 21, was arguing with another male about 11:45 a.m. in the 6100 block of South Throop when the male pulled out a handgun and shot him in the head and torso, according to police. The shooter then ran away. Ringold, known to friends as Vajah, was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead.
- A 27-year-old man was killed in a drive-by shooting Friday afternoon in the Princeton Park neighborhood on the South Side. Marshall Palm was in the 200 block of West 95th Street at 3:51 p.m. when suspects fired shots from a light-colored SUV, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Palm, who lived in the Roseland neighborhood, was shot at least once and was taken to Roseland Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later.
- A 23-year-old man was shot to death a couple hours earlier in the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side. Jamal Webb was outside about 1:45 p.m. in the 7800 block of South Champlain when someone got out of a dark-colored car, walked up and shot him, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Webb, who lived in the same neighborhood, suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.
- A 17-year-old boy was slain and two people wounded in a Humboldt Park neighborhood shooting Thursday evening on the West Side. About 6:15 p.m., the three were standing outside in the 1100 block of North Hamlin Avenue when a dark-colored car pulled up, two people got out and started shooting, according to police. The teen, Davion Tony, was shot in the head, and died at Mount Sinai Hospital at 7 p.m., authorities said. He lived in the same neighborhood. A 24-year-old man shot in the left leg and side was taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition, along with a 33-year-old woman in good condition with an ankle wound, police said.
- A 30-year-old man was shot to death Thursday evening in the Washington Park neighborhood on the South Side. About 6 p.m., someone got out of a vehicle in the 5100 block of South Prairie and fired shots, hitting Antonio L. Wilson in the head, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Wilson, of the Gresham neighborhood, died at the scene.
- A 19-year-old man died Thursday, three days after after he and two other people were shot late Monday in the Grand Crossing neighborhood on the South Side. About 11:30 p.m. on Memorial Day, the group was standing on the sidewalk in the 1500 block of East 74th Street when shots rang out and the three were hit, according to police. They all showed up at Jackson Park Hospital.
Anthony D. Galvin suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was transferred to Stroger Hospital, where he died at 5:39 p.m. Thursday, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. He lived in the same neighborhood as the shooting. A 20-year-old woman was shot in the right elbow and a 21-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to the left shoulder, police said. Both of their conditions were stabilized at Jackson Park.
- A tow truck driver was killed in a shooting Wednesday evening in the South Chicago neighborhood. Jose Antonio Jimenez, 32, was driving a 2006 Chevrolet tow truck south in the 8800 block of South Houston at 8:35 p.m. when someone fired shots in his direction, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. He suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the left side of his abdomen and drove to the 9100 block of South South Chicago, where the truck crashed through a wrought iron fence. Jimenez was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later. He lived in southwest suburban Evergreen Park.
- A 23-year-old man was shot to death Tuesday night on the Near West Side. Tevin M. Davis was inside a parked vehicle in the 2700 block of West Gladys about 8:30 p.m. when someone walked up and shot him in the head, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Davis, of the North Lawndale neighborhood, was pronounced dead at the scene.
- A man was found shot to death Tuesday night in the Washington Heights neighborhood on the Far South Side. Officers responding to a call of a person shot at 8:26 p.m. and found 29-year-old Marcus Childs lying on the ground next to a vehicle in the 1000 block of West 103rd Street, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Childs had been shot multiple times and was pronounced dead at the scene. He lived in the West Englewood neighborhood.
- A 37-year-old man died Tuesday of injuries suffered in a shooting last week in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood on the Southwest Side. Officers responded to a shooting at 1:12 p.m. on May 24 and found Antonio Larry shot multiple times inside a home in the 6000 block of South Fairfield, according to police and the medical examiner's office. Larry, who lived on the same block as the shooting, was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead at 8:07 p.m. Tuesday, police and the medical examiner's office said.
- A 21-year-old man was shot to death early Tuesday in the Washington Park neighborhood. Krystoffer Kelly was sitting in a vehicle about 2:50 a.m. in the 5700 block of South Prairie when someone fired shots, striking him multiple times, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Kelly was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:54 a.m. He lived in the Roseland neighborhood.
- A teenage boy was killed and two other people wounded in a shooting Monday night in the South Side Englewood neighborhood. Jaywan Freeman, 17; another 17-year-old boy, and a 20-year-old man were standing in the street about 9:50 p.m. in the 6900 block of South Harvard when a another male walked up and opened fire, according to police and the medical examiner’s office.
Freeman was shot in the head and pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. He lived in the Grand Crossing neighborhood. The other 17-year-old was shot in the left shoulder and taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, police said. The 20-year-old was shot in the abdomen and taken to Stroger Hospital. Both of their conditions were stabilized.