WEEK IN REVIEW: At least 22 more people killed, including 9 in four separate multiple-fatality shootings

By JEFF MAYES
Homicide Watch Chicago

Sun-Times file photo by Ashlee Rezin

There were more homicides in Chicago in 2016 than in the previous two decades. And after 22 more people were killed in the city last week, 2017 is shaping up to be an even deadlier year.

As of July 6, 2016, there had been 341 homicides reported, according to Chicago Sun-Times statistics. As of July 6, 2017, there have been 349.

Of the fatal shootings reported last week, four of the incidents resulted in two or more people being killed, including a triple-fatal homicide in the South Side Englewood neighborhood.

That was one of only three incidents for which suspects have been arrested and charged.

Two men are being held without bond, charged with fatally shooting the three men Friday night. Timothy Gordon, 19, and Jayden Dorsey, 21, both face three counts of first-degree murder, according to Chicago Police.

Cook County prosecutors said the pair walked up to an apartment building in the 5700 block of South Wells about 8:50 p.m. and opened fire, spraying the building with more than 40 shots.

Javon Jackson, 30, was struck eight times and died at Northwestern Memorial Hospital on Friday night. Sedrick Ringer, 50, suffered nine gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. And the next day, relatives came to the house and found John Hunter, 52, dead in his apartment with a wound to his thigh, authorities said. Police found 43 shell casings outside the house.

Hunter was not believed to have been an intended target of the shooters, who were taken into custody after crashing their car during a brief chase involving CPD squads and a police helicopter.

• Two more men were killed and a third wounded in a shooting early Sunday in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side. Police responded about 1:30 a.m. to the 4200 block of South State, where they found two men, 31 and 47, shot in the head. The younger man, Robert Cooley, was taken to Stroger Hospital, where was was pronounced dead at 4 p.m., police and the medical examiner’s office said. The older man, Arthur L. Smith, was taken to Mercy Hospital, where he died at 2:13 a.m., authorities said. Both lived in the neighborhood, blocks from the shooting. The third man, 49, showed up at Mercy Hospital suffering from a gunshot wound to the right arm, police said. His condition was stabilized.
• A man and a woman were killed in a shooting Friday morning, again in Bronzeville. Four people were in a vehicle about 7:10 a.m. in the 4100 block of South State Street, according to police. When they stopped at a red light, a black SUV pulled alongside and a male inside started shooting. Two back-seat passengers were struck before the driver of the victim’s vehicle drove away. The vehicle stopped in the 5400 block of South Wentworth, where 22-year-old Alfonso Toro Jr. had been shot in the head, shoulder and back, and was pronounced dead, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Gloria Aguilar, 23, suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the torso and a gunshot wound to the right arm, authorities said. She was taken to Stroger Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 10:33 a.m. The driver and front-seat passenger were not injured.
• Two more women were fatally shot while driving in the Washington Park neighborhood on the South Side Wednesday night. They were stopped at a light about 10:30 p.m. in the 5400 block of South Wabash, according to police. Someone in another vehicle fired shots, and both suffered gunshot wounds to the head. Their SUV then rolled onto the sidewalk. Juliet Veronica Washington, 41, of west suburban Woodridge, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the medical examiner’s office. She was a mail carrier in Westmont and the mother of two. She was also known as Juliet Pollard. Jeanine Dowell, 32, of the Far South Side Roseland neighborhood, also died at the scene. She was the mother of three and was known as Jeanine Charrell. Autopsies Thursday showed both women died of multiple gunshot wounds, according to the medical examiner’s office.

In other shootings:

• A man was found shot to death late Sunday in the Illinois Medical District on the Near West Side. Officers responded to a call of a person shot about 11:35 p.m. and found 39-year-old Jermaine E. Blandin lying face down in the street in the 1800 block of West 14th Street, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Blandin had been shot in the head and was pronounced dead at the scene. He lived in Austin.
• A 21-year-old man died Thursday, nearly six months after he was shot in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on the West Side. Jose Martinez and two other men were sitting in a parked vehicle about 10:40 p.m. Dec. 6, 2016, in the 3400 block of West Augusta when a male walked up and opened fire, according to police. Martinez was shot on the right side of his neck and was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was initially listed in critical condition. He was pronounced dead at 11:17 p.m. Thursday at the Warren Barr South Loop rehabilitation center, according to the medical examiner’s office. He lived in the Irving Park neighborhood. An autopsy Friday found he died of complications from his gunshot wound. The same shooting also wounded a 31-year-old man and a 40-year-old man.
• A teenage boy was shot to death while walking with his brother Wednesday evening in the Ashburn neighborhood on the Southwest Side. Jose Mendoza Jr., 16, was walking east with his brother near the intersection of 79th and Christiana when people walking nearby started shooting, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Mendoza was shot in the back and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead. He lived about a block away.
• A 24-year-old man was found shot to death Wednesday afternoon in Humboldt Park. Officers responded to a call of a person shot at 4:28 p.m. and found Arteco Rhodes lying on the ground in the 3200 block of West Haddon, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Rhodes had been shot in the chest and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died, authorities said.
• A man shot to death Tuesday night in the Gresham neighborhood on the South Side. Jaruad Ford, who lived just a block away, was shot shot at 6:22 p.m. in the 8900 block of South Morgan. Police found the 28-year-old in the driver’s seat of a Chevrolet car. He had suffered gunshot wounds to the head and torso, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
• A 28-year-old man was shot to death Tuesday afternoon in the Woodlawn neighborhood on the South Side. Sammy McGowan was standing outside at 4:56 p.m. in the 6500 block of South University when a white SUV pulled up and two armed males got out and fired shots, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. The suspects then jumped back into the vehicle, which sped away. McGowan suffered a gunshot wound to the neck and another to the chest, and was pronounced dead at the scene. He lived in Austin.
• A 23-year-old man died Tuesday — three days after being wounded in a Humboldt Park shooting. Hakeem Howard of Englewood was shot in his abdomen just before 10 a.m. Saturday by someone who walked up to him and began firing in the 3800 block of West Chicago, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died at 12:50 p.m. Tuesday. Howard was the third person to be shot in about as many hours Saturday morning during a spree of violence in the neighborhood.
• A 35-year-old man was found shot to death Tuesday morning in the South Side Woodlawn neighborhood. Curtis S. Posey was found with a gunshot wound to the neck in the 6400 block of South Ingleside at 8:12 a.m., according to police and the medical examiner's office. Posey, of the East Side neighborhood on the Far South Side, was pronounced dead at the scene.
• Bond was denied for a man with murder for assaulting Benjamin Herron during an argument, then striking him with a vehicle Monday night in Austin neighborhood, authorities said. Herron, 54, got into a fight with Richard L. Williams at 7:52 p.m. in the 5200 block of West Division, according to police and prosecutors. A police said source the two men had been drinking when they got into an argument. The suspect then intentionally struck Herron with a car, police said. Herron, a grandfather, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12:44 a.m. Tuesday. An autopsy Tuesday found he died of multiple injuries from an assault, according to the medical examiner’s office. Williams, 66, faces one count of first-degree murder.
• A 23-year-old man was shot to death Monday night in the Back of the Yards neighborhood on the South Side. Police responded at 10:10 p.m. to a call of a person shot in the 5400 block of South Bishop and found Arthur McGraw lying on the sidewalk, according to police and the medical examiner's office. McGraw was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he died. He lived in the same neighborhood.
• A 15-year-old boy was shot to death Monday night in the Washington Heights neighborhood on the Far South Side. Deshawn Martin was in the backyard of a home about 7:35 p.m. in the 1000 block of West 103rd Street when someone fired several shots, striking him in the chest, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Deshawn was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead at 9:15 p.m., authorities said. He lived about a block away.
• A man was killed in a drive-by shooting Monday night in the West Side Austin neighborhood. About 7:55 p.m., Romeo Edwards, 23, was in a parked car in the 4800 block of West Gladys when another car drove up and someone inside opened fire, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Edwards was shot in the chest and right thigh, and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died. He lived in west suburban Maywood.
• Bond was also denied for a suburban man charged with the fatal shooting of a man Monday evening in South Chicago. Jeremy R. Starks, 34, of Park Forest, faces felony counts of first-degree murder and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon. Antone Jackson, 26, was arguing with Starks about 6:30 p.m. in the 7900 block of South Ridgeland when Starks took out a weapon and fired shots, according to prosecutors. Jackson suffered a gunshot wound to the body and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead at 7:27 p.m., authorities said. He lived in the same neighborhood.