By JEFF MAYES
Homicide Watch Chicago
Sun-Times file photo by Ashlee Rezin
At least 14 people were killed last week as Chicago passed the 400-homicide mark for the year nearly a week ahead of last year's pace, when the homicides numbers were the highest in two decades. The victims included a mother shot while walking with her young son, and a man stabbed to death in a luxury apartment, a crime which has sparked a nationwide manhunt.
When Kennatay K. Leavell was shot to death early Friday near the former Cabrini-Green public housing projects on the Near North Side, it was the city’s 400th homicide of the year.
But before the day was over, two more homicides had been reported that happened earlier, and by Aug. 1, the date when the 400th homicide of 2016 was reported, there had been at least 410 this year, according to Sun-Times data.
Add in five people shot dead by on-duty Chicago Police officers; the deaths of 10 people ruled homicides due to wounds suffered in years past; four people charged with reckless homicide over motor vehicle-involved fatalities; and a man charged with murder in a case where autopsy results are still pending, and the number grows even higher.
Of those killings, about 380 have been with guns, the data shows. Fifteen people were stabbed to death, nine were abused or assaulted, two were strangled, three were intentionally hit by vehicles, and one was forced to ingest bleach.
The total included a woman killed in a shooting that also injured her 4-year-old son and a man Friday evening in the West Side Austin neighborhood. The shooting happened at 5:19 p.m. in the 5200 block of West Kamerling, police said. Nikia Betts, 28, was walking down an alley with her son and the man when shots rang out, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner's office. She was shot in the head and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she died at 5:54 p.m., according to police and the medical examiner’s office. The boy and 19-year-old man were both shot in the arm, police said. They were taken to Stroger Hospital in good condition.
And in River North, a 26-year-old man was found stabbed to death Thursday night, and a manhunt is on for two suspects, including a Northwestern University professor. Trenton H. James Cornell-Duranleau was found with multiple lacerations about 8:30 p.m. inside an apartment in the Grand Plaza Apartments in the 500 block of North State Street, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. He was pronounced dead at the scene, which police sources called "gruesome," with blood spattered across the room where the victim was found "mutilated."
Days later, a Cook County judge issued murder warrants for NU associate professor Wyndham Lathem, who lived in the apartment where the body was found; and Andrew Warren, 56, a bursar at Oxford University’s Somerville College in England. Police believe the pair fled Illinois, but their passports have been flagged by the State Department, and the U.S. Marshal Service has joined the search.
- The week's final homicide was a man was found shot to death Sunday afternoon in the Longwood Manor neighborhood on the Far South Side. Demetrius Miller, 20, was found unresponsive about 4:30 p.m. in the backyard of a home in the 9800 block of South Peoria, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Miller had a gunshot wound to the back and was pronounced at the scene. He lived in the Gresham neighborhood on the South Side.
- A person was killed and two others wounded in a Marquette Park neighborhood shooting late Friday on the Southwest Side. At 10:50 p.m., the three were standing in the 2500 block of West Lithuanian Plaza Court when shots rang out. Eugene Winters, 18, was shot in the head and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died at 11:32 p.m., according to police and the medical examiner’s office. He lived near the shooting scene. A 33-year-old woman grazed in the head was taken to the same hospital in serious condition, along with a 34-year-old man shot multiple times in the left shoulder. His condition was stabilized, police said.
- One man was killed and another wounded in a North Lawndale neighborhood shooting Friday afternoon. At 12:07 p.m., Dominick Black and another man were standing on the sidewalk in the 1500 block of South St. Louis when an SUV approached, and multiple people got out and opened fire, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. The men, both 24 years old, were taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, authorities said. Black, whose home address was unknown, suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and legs, and was pronounced dead at 6:51 p.m. The other man was shot in the foot and wrist, and his condition was stabilized.
- A 23-year-old man was shot to death Friday morning in the Roseland neighborhood on the Far South Side. The shooting happened at 9:44 a.m. in the 200 block of West 107th Street, according to police. Richard Harrison, who lived nearby, was shot in the head, arm and shoulder; and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead at 10:33 a.m.
- Leavell was shot to death early Friday near the former Cabrini-Green public housing projects on the Near North Side. Just before 3 a.m., two men were in the 500 block of West Iowa when the 31-year-old was shot multiple times in the face, and a 34-year-old man was shot repeatedly in the abdomen, police and the medical examiner’s office said. The older man was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in critical condition. Leavell died at the scene. He lived in the North Side Rogers Park neighborhood.
- A man was killed in a shooting that left four other people wounded Thursday night in the South Shore neighborhood. They were standing on the sidewalk at 10:38 p.m. in the 2000 block of East 71st Street when someone inside a tan minivan fired shots, according to police. Zaire Benjamin, 18, was shot in the head and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he died at 11:49 p.m., according to police and the medical examiner’s office. He lived in South Shore. A 19-year-old man was shot in the abdomen and groin, and was also taken to Northwestern, where he was in critical condition, police said. Two 21-year-olds took themselves to Jackson Park Hospital, one with a gunshot wound to the buttocks and the other shot in his left leg, police said. Both their conditions had stabilized. The fifth victim, an 18-year-old man, was shot in his left wrist and was taken to Trinity Hospital, where his condition was stabilized.
- A 58-year-old man died Thursday of injuries suffered in a fight the night before in the South Side Englewood neighborhood. Gregory Jackson was in a physical altercation Wednesday night in the 1500 block of West 63rd Street, and suffered blunt trauma to the head, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Police did not know who he was fighting with. Jackson was found unresponsive in bed the next morning, and pronounced dead at 9:40 a.m., authorities said. An autopsy Friday found he died of subdural hematoma and multiple blunt force traumatic injuries.
- Bond was set at $2 million for a woman charged with stabbing a 55-year-old man to death early Thursday in Lawndale. Darrel Wilson was stabbed in the left side of his chest at 1:36 a.m. in the 1500 block of South Millard, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Wilson, who lived on the same block, was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital. Carol Matthews, 56, was taken into custody and charged with one felony count of first-degree murder, police said. A knife was recovered at the scene.
- A 40-year-old man was shot to death Tuesday night in the Gresham neighborhood on the South Side. Glen Ingram was standing on the sidewalk at 9:37 p.m. in the 7800 block of South Carpenter when someone in a white SUV fired shots, striking him in the back, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Ingram, who lived on the same block, was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead about an hour later.
- A 26-year-old man was shot to death Wednesday afternoon in the West Humboldt Park neighborhood. Sydney Caldwell was in a vehicle about 4:30 p.m. in the 4700 block of West Maple when people approached on foot and fired shots, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Caldwell was shot in the abdomen and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he died at 5:04 p.m., authorities said. He lived in the West Side Austin neighborhood.
- A south suburban man was killed and a woman wounded Monday night in a Park Manor neighborhood shooting on the South Side. The pair were standing about 10:20 p.m. in the 7100 block of South Rhodes when a silver Nissan Altima pulled up and three males got out and opened fire, according to police. Darius Gavin, 20, of Riverdale, suffered a gunshot wound to the head; and the woman, believed to be between 20 and 30, was shot in both legs, police and the medical examiner’s office said. Both were taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where Gavin was pronounced dead, and the woman’s condition was stabilized.
- A man was fatally shot in the head while standing on a porch Monday night in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side. Dayvy Rivas, 43, was on the porch of a home in the 300 block of North Lorel about 11:10 p.m. when three people came out of a gangway and started fighting, police and the medical examiner’s office said. During the fight, one of the people involved took out a gun and shot Rivas, who remained on the porch, authorities said. He suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, police said. Rivas lived in the Northwest Side Belmont Cragin neighborhood.
- One man was killed and another wounded in a shooting Monday evening in the Southwest Side Chicago Lawn neighborhood. The men were driving south in the 2600 block of West 63rd Street at 10:10 p.m. when someone walked up to their vehicle and opened fire, according to police. Diego Sandoval, 21 , was pronounced dead at Holy Cross Hospital, according to the medical examiner’s office. Police said Sandoval, who lived just a couple of blocks away, suffered a gunshot wound to the chest. Another bullet grazed a 26-year-old man in the chest, and his condition was stabilized at Holy Cross.