Police today asked for the public’s helping in finding those responsible for the death of a 16-year-old boy who was discovered shot in the back Tuesday on a Little Village sidewalk.

About 9:30 p.m. Tuesday police were called to the 3300 block of West 27th Street where Williams Diaz was found with gunshot wounds in the back, according to a ChicagoChicago reviews Police News Affairs officer.

Diaz was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Police are investigating the death as a homicide and say it was possibly gang-related. They could not provide any information about possible suspects.

Harrison Area detectives have released a photo of Diaz, encouraging the public to call with any information at 312-746-8252.

–Serena Maria Daniels

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Two people have been charged in the May 2009 slaying of a 17-year-old boy on the South Side, police said today.

Quinton Glover, 17, of the 1400 block of West 73rd Street and Centrell Lanier, 22, of the 6200 block of South Talman Avenue both were charged Tuesday in the May 21 shooting of Eddrick Walker, police said.

Roderick Brown, 19, was charged in the slaying in December, said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Antoinette Ursitti.

Walker, of the 600 block of East Marquette Road, suffered multiple gunshot wounds in the attack in the 6500 block of South Evans Avenue in the West Woodlawn neighborhood a little before 10 p.m. that night. He was declared dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital at 10:20 p.m.

The slaying appeared to have been gang-related, police said, but did not give any details. Just after the slaying, police said they were searching for at least two men or boys who attacked Walker, at least one of whom shot him.

Glover and Lanier had been scheduled to appear in bond court today, but information from court was not immediately available. Lanier already has been serving a 3-year sentence in state prison on an unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon case.

Brown, who is being held without bail at Cook County Jail in connection with Walker’s slaying, was on probation in a case involving selling or possessing stolen goods at the time of the shooting.

–Staff report

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Charges have been filed in a shooting Wednesday on the Northwest Side that left a 4-year-old boy wounded in the leg. At the time police said the gunman was going after the boy’s father.

Juan Herrera, 26, of the 3100 block of North Lockwood Avenue, was charged with aggravated battery of a child with a firearm, aggravated discharged of a firearm from a vehicle, aggravated discharged of a firearm from a vehicle near a school and aggravated battery with a firearm, police said.

The boy, who was shot in the upper potion of his right leg, had been reported in good condition at Children’s Memorial Hospital.

The shooting took place near Belmont and Long avenues at about 7:20 p.m. Wednesday.

The boy was sitting in a car with his father when a dark-colored vehicle approached, police said. The boy’s father had an argument with Herrera earlier that day, police said. Police said Herrera got out of his car and displayed a handgun. The boy’s father tried to drive off when he saw the gunman, who then opened fire, police said.

A bullet entered through the vehicle’s rear window and struck the boy, police said.

The shooting may have been gang-related, police said.

Herrera is scheduled to appear in bond court later today.

–Staff report  

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The victim of a gang-related shooting walked into the Cicero Town Hall bleeding and asking for help earlier this week, much to the surprise of employees and others inside, a town official said today.

An 18-year-old man has been charged with the shooting.

A 19-year-old Cicero man was shot about 8:50 a.m. Monday while riding in a car at Laramie Avenue and Cermak Road, a few blocks west of the Town Hall.

The driver of the bullet-riddled Mercedes-Benz in which the 19-year-old was riding decided to take him to the Town Hall thinking he would be able to get faster medical help, said Cicero spokesman Ray Hanania.

The driver, believed to be an acquaintance of the victim, dropped him on the sidewalk at the west of the building, which has no public access. The victim was able to make his way to the main entrance where he walked inside clutching his abdomen.

“There was blood everywhere,” Hanania said. “People thought he had been shot outside Town Hall.”

The victim was assisted immediately and taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital in ChicagoChicago reviews where he was treated for a gunshot wound to the back.

Omar Olivarez, 18, of Cicero turned himself in to Cicero police Monday. He was charged Wednesday night with one count each of attempted murder and aggravated battery with a firearm, Hanania said.

He is scheduled to appear in court in Maywood Tuesday Jan. 12.

Police are still investigating, but witnesses said the shooting just started suddenly at the intersection. It is not yet known if shots were fired from both of the vehicles involved or just one, Hanania said.

“They just started shooting,” he said.

– Victoria Pierce

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The boy was originally reported in good condition Wednesday night after being shot in the upper portion of his right leg and taken to Children’s Memorial Hospital.

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Two men were wounded, one of them seriously, in an apparent gang-related shooting Thursday night in the South SideSouth Side reviews’s Park Manor neighborhood, ChicagoChicago reviews police said early this morning.

Four other men were taken into custody in connection with the shooting.

The victims and a third individual were heading north in a vehicle on the 6900 block of South St. Lawrence Avenue about 11:10 p.m. when a gold minivan pulled up alongside, police said.

At least one occupant from that minivan opened fire, hitting the two victims, both in their 20s. The third person in the victims’ vehicle was not hurt.

The victims and their assailants were members of rival gangs, police said.

In an effort apparently to get away from the gunfire, the victims sped off before their vehicle crashed near East 69th Street and South Chicago Avenue, police said.

The driver of that vehicle was shot up to six times and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was in serious condition, police said. The other victim was shot in his elbow and knee, and was in good condition at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Meanwhile, the gold minivan was pulled over shortly after the shooting by a unit from the police targeted response team, and its four occupants were arrested. Police could not say which of the four fired the shots, but said what they believe to be the gun used in the shooting was taken from the men.

Calumet Area detectives continued to investigate the shooting early this morning. No charges have been filed.

–Staff report

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A 4-year-old boy was shot in the leg on the Northwest Side Wednesday night, authorities said.

The boy was in good condition after being shot in the upper portion of his right leg and taken to Children’s Memorial Hospital.

The shooting took place near Belmont and Long avenues about 7:20 p.m., ChicagoChicago reviews Fire Department spokesman Will Knight said.

The boy was sitting in a vehicle driven by his father when a dark-colored vehicle approached, while heading southbound on Long, police said. The gunman, who had been involved in some sort of dispute with the boy’s father earlier in the day, exited the dark-colored vehicle and displayed a handgun.

The boy’s father tried to drive off when he saw the gunman, who then opened fire.
One bullet entered through a rear window of the victim’s father’s vehicle and struck the boy, police said. No one else was hurt.

Police said the dispute between the gunman and the boy’s father may have been gang-related.

No one was in custody as Grand Central Area detectives continued to investigate late Wednesday night.

–Staff report

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An Aurora man was found guilty Thursday of two counts of first-degree murder for gunning down a man who flashed rival gang signs at him.
Lorenzo Alvarez, 22, faces a minimum 45-year prison sentence for the
March 6, 2007 shooting death of Oscar Campos of Aurora. Campos, 36, was
a passenger in a van that had stopped at East and North avenues where
three young men were standing.

When Campos got out of the van and flashed gang signs at the trio, one
of them pulled out a semi-automatic handgun and began firing,
authorities said. Campos was shot in the back, but he managed to get
back into the van, which sped away. He died later that night at an
Aurora hospital.

Alvarez was arrested about three weeks later after police received a tip that he was the shooter.

Kane County Judge Timothy Sheldon, who presided over Alvarez’s bench
trial earlier this month, said the testimony of the other two men with
Alvarez at the time, who later implicated him, convinced him of
Alvarez’s guilt, along with physical evidence.

The judge noted that police found bullets in Alvarez’s house that matched spent casings collected at the scene of the shooting.

Other witnesses testified that the shooting earned Alvarez full membership in his gang and that he threw a party to celebrate.

Sheldon also found that Alvarez personally discharged the firearm that
caused Campos’ death, meaning he will receive a 25-year add-on to his
murder sentence. Since the minimum murder sentence is 20 years, Alvarez
will serve at least 45 years in prison.

Sheldon set sentencing for Feb. 17. Meanwhile, Alvarez is awaiting
trial on another gang-related murder in Aurora. Should he be convicted
in that case, he would face an automatic sentence of natural life in
prison.

– Clifford Ward

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A second person was charged today in a weekend shooting in Oswego in which an East Aurora High School student was killed in what police believe was a gang-related incident.

Francisco D. Salazar, 20, of Aurora was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a  firearm, and aggravated discharge of a firearm, according to Oswego police and the Kendall County State’s Atty. Eric Wies.

On Monday, police charged Zachary Reyes, 16, of murder for the shooting death of Jason Ventura, a 17-year old high school student.

According to reports, Ventura was driving his car accompanied by two other people car around 12:50 a.m. Sunday near Oswego, when Reyes, who was in a second car along with Salazar, opened fire.

The gunfire killed Ventura and wounded a second person in his car, identified as Eduardo Gaytan, 18, of Montgomery. He was taken to an Aurora hospital. The third person in the car was not injured, police said.

Police believe the shooting was gang-related, Oswego Det. Rob Sherwood said Tuesday.

“Some of the people involved were known gang members,” he said, though he said declined to be more specific, citing the ongoing investigation.

–Clifford Ward

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A ChicagoChicago reviews man and woman have been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of a 19-year-old man Friday evening in Berwyn.

Christopher Rivera of Berwyn was shot in the head while walking with his two older brothers in the 2500 block of Cuyler Street.

Ysole Krol, 20, was arrested at her home in the 3400 block of North Claremont Avenue in Chicago early Monday morning, police said. Her boyfriend, Sergio Martinez, 19, the alleged shooter, who lives at the same address, turned himself in to Berwyn police just after 10 p.m. on Monday, police said.

Both have been charged with first-degree murder. Police officials said Krol appeared in court in Maywood on Tuesday and is being held in lieu of $2 million bail. Martinez is expected to appear in court Wednesday.

Berwyn Detective Roger Montoro said Krol handed a gun to Martinez, who shot Rivera from a vehicle following an argument.

Montoro said the shooting was not gang-related and added that Krol and Rivera and his brothers were once friends. Montoro said Martinez’s brothers and Rivera’s brothers have been feuding over various issues — including a girl — for over a year. It is unclear if Christopher Rivera was the target of the shooting, Montoro said.

– Joseph Ruzich

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The Daily Herald reports: Zachary Reyes, 16, of the 500 block of Webster Street in Aurora, has been charged with murder in the shooting and killing of an East Aurora High School student Sunday in an incident police said was gang related.

Get the full story: dailyherald.com

Technorati Tags: aurora high school, daily herald, east aurora high school, gang related, Webster Street

A 22-year-old man died Sunday afternoon after he was shot multiple times on ChicagoChicago reviews’s Southwest Side.

Gregory Tuck, of the 6700 block of South Artesian Avenue, was pronounced dead at 5:47 p.m. Sunday, according to a spokesman for the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Witnesses told police that Tuck was arguing with five men when one of them pulled out a gun and shot Tuck several times, according to Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Michael Fitzpatrick.

The incident took place about 4:45 p.m. in the 6800 block of South Artesian Avenue in the Marquette Park neighborhood at about 4:45 p.m., Fitzpatrick said.

The shooting is possibly gang-related, he said. Police are investigating.

–Deanese Williams-Harris

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Three men who refused to testify in a gang-related murder trial were sentenced today to six months in the Cook County Jail for contempt of court.

Raul Galarza, Jeffrey Pawlak and Carlos Roa were granted immunity in exchange for their testimony against 25-year-old Santiago Godinez, who was charged with and recently acquitted of the September 2006 shooting death of Jesus Gonzalez in Stone Park.

Roa and Pawlak are also charged with Gonzalez’s murder and their cases are pending. The immunity granted them in Godinez’s trial meant that nothing they said in his case could be used against them in their own trials. Nonetheless, they repeatedly refused to testify, citing their Constitutional rights.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Tucker handed down the men’s punishment. Earlier this month, Tucker had found Godinez not guilty at the end of a bench trial in Maywood.

Roa is scheduled to appear in court Dec. 23. Pawlak will return to court in March.

–Victoria Pierce

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A Cook County judge today found a 25-year-old Stone Park man not guilty of murder in a gang-related case in which three witnesses are now jailed for refusing to testify.

Santiago Godinez had been charged with shooting 18-year-old Jesus Gonzalez of ChicagoChicago reviews as he was driving his sister and three friends away from a confrontation outside a Melrose Park church on Sept. 17, 2006.

Witnesses during the bench trial before Circuit Court Judge Thomas Tucker said Gonzalez pulled his car around to the front of the church to pick up his passengers about 1 a.m. after a dance.

A green car with two men in it was already in front of the church and a black SUV pulled up soon after. Words were exchanged as Gonzalez was asked what gang he belonged to. Several men then approached Gonzalez’s car and at least one of those men punched him before his sister and friends got into the car and he drove away heading west on Soffel Avenue.

Dana Gonzalez and another passenger testified that a few blocks away they saw a man with a gun walking toward the car as Jesus Gonzalez stopped at a stop sign. The man fired several shots striking Gonzalez in the head as he was pulling through the intersection.

The car briefly went out of control but came to a rest near 40th and Soffel avenues in Stone Park. Gonzalez was already unresponsive when police arrived.

Both Dana Gonzalez and the second passenger picked Godinez out in photo and in-person lineups as the man who fired at the car. Assistant State’s Atty. Joe Keating said their testimony was credible and enough to convict Godinez.

But defense attorney Ron Menaker called into question how the lineups were conducted and pointed out inconsistencies between witnesses testimony and statements made earlier to police.

Looming over the proceedings was the refusal of three men who were stopped about 20 minutes after the shooting driving in the black Cadillac Escalade believed to have been involved in the confrontation outside the church.

The Maywood courtroom was packed Tuesday as Raul Galarza, 34; Carlos Roa, 26; and Jeffrey Pawlak, 25, were given one last chance to testify in the trial. Each had been granted immunity for their testimony but they still declined to testify.

Roa and Pawlak are also charged with Gonzalez’s murder and all three men remain in custody at the Cook County Jail with a Dec. 16 court date on the contempt charges.

When Tucker found Godinez not guilty because there was not enough evidence against him, relatives and friends of Godinez shouted and applauded with joy. The judge quickly told them to “sit down and shut up.” Simultaneously, Gonzalez’s family wept and one woman collapsed.

Godinez is not a free man, however. He faces an attempted murder charge in an unrelated incident that occurred three weeks before Gonzalez was killed, Keating said.

–Victoria Pierce

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Three people were being treated on Thursday for non-life-threatening wounds they suffered in a shooting in Winnetka.

Technorati Tags: gang related, PEOPLE, Police Shooting, Thursday, winnetka, wounds

Two men were found shot within a block of each other on the South SideSouth Side reviews this evening following what apparently was a drive-by shooting, authorities said.

Police were notified of the two shooting victims just before 6:20 p.m., said ChicagoChicago reviews Police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli.

Two men, one age 29, the other 19, were shot in the 7000 block of South Crandon Avenue, said Grand Crossing District Capt. Kenneth Johnson.

Preliminary information indicates that four people were walking down Crandon Avenue when shots were fired from a passing vehicle and struck two of the men, Johnson said. No vehicle description was immediately available. Calumet Area detectives were investigating and will determine whether the shooting was gang related, but declined to comment on the incident.

Following the shooting, the older man was found shot in the arm, leg, and possibly torso in the 2200 block of east 69th Street, said Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford. In the 2200 block of east 70th Street, the younger man man was found shot in the elbow and foot, Langford said.

The older man was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in serious-to-critical condition; the 20-year-old was taken to the same hospital in fair-to-serious condition, Langford said. After they were hospitalized, the 29-year-old man was listed in critical condition at the hospital and the 19-year-old man’s condition was stabilized, Johnson said. 

Mirabelli said he had no details regarding the circumstances of the two men being shot or whether their injuries might have taken place in the same incident.

Although News Affairs had reported a third person was found shot a few blocks away in the 2400 block of East 72nd Street later this evening, Johnson said shots were fired at that location but no one was wounded. A person was taken into police custody for questioning following those gunsthos, Johnson said.

Police were uncertain if that gunfire was related to the earlier shootings.

–Lauren R. Harrison, staff

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The mother of a South SideSouth Side reviews teen who was one of two people killed in an apparent drive-by shooting Tuesday afternoon described her son as a “helpful young man” who wanted to join the U.S. Army.

“He wanted to do right, to start going to church, to better himself,” said Starlette Burnett, whose son, 19-year-old Shane Burnett, died after he was found shot in an alley near 68th Street and Ashland Avenue in the West Englewood area.

The shooting also claimed the life of Sharon Anderson, 46, of the 5900 block of South Sangamon Street, and left two other men wounded.

One of Anderson’s daughters told WGN-TV that her mother had 14 children and 17 grandchildren.

Shane Burnett’s mother said her son was uncertain of what he wanted to do with his life, which is why he sought to enlist in the Army. He got a G.E.D. after attending Tilden Career Community Academy High School, his mother said.

“He always had a smile. When he smiled, you felt his joy,” Starlette Burnett, 38, said. “He was a very helpful young man. If anybody needed some help … he did stuff for people automatically.”

She said Shane, her oldest child, was very close with his five younger siblings–three brothers and two sisters–whom he often played with in their residence.

ChicagoChicago reviews Police Officer John Mirabelli, a police spokesman, said the shooting was possibly gang-related. It was not immediately clear whether Burnett was a gang member, or if he was the intended target.

Mirabelli would not release further details of the investigation, saying only police “were still working the case.”

But Starlette Burnett said she had no idea why her son was killed. As for her son’s killer or killers: “I pray for them and I forgive them, even though I feel a great loss.”

– Jeremy Gorner

Technorati Tags: 68th Street and Ashland Avenue, Chicago, IL, academy high school, afternoon, alley, Anderson, area, Ashland, Ashland Avenue, block, career, career community, chicago, Chicago Police Officer, Church, community academy, englewood area, G.E.D, gang member, gang related, grandchildren, Jeremy Gorner, life, man, mother, Nbsp, Officer John Mirabelli, photo, Police, police spokesman, right, Shane, Shane Burnett, Sharon Anderson, shooting, Soldier Mom, Son, South Sangamon, South Side, Starlette, Street, Target, teen, Tilden, Tuesday, tuesday afternoon, two sisters, U.S. Army, Updated, West Englewood, wgn tv, young man, younger siblings

GeRod Thomas went out of his way to avoid trouble, often staying inside when he was at his Bronzeville home.

Yet violence found him on his front lawn Tuesday night when he was gunned down in what police believe was a gang-related drive-by shooting.

Thomas, 18, was shot within a minute of stepping outside, his family and police said. Three girls whom Thomas had just met that afternoon fled the scene.

Thomas’ grandmother, DeLois, 72, raised him from birth and said the teenager was not involved in gangs.

“He didn’t run the streets,” she said. “He didn’t go nowhere but to school and back home. He didn’t get in trouble.”

Thomas was a junior at ChicagoChicago reviews Vocational Career Academy.

Like most teenagers, Thomas moved slowly in the morning. His grandmother would wake him up by 6:30 a.m. to give him enough time to take a Red Line train to 87th Street and catch a bus the rest of the way to school. He was often late for his 8 a.m. shop class because his commute took 40 minutes.

His close-knit extended family called Thomas “Poppy” because of his large eyes. He loved skating rinks, gliding by girls and showing off his dexterity.

Thomas’ sister Margaret, 26, said they would “watch TV together in separate rooms.” The two would laugh and shout from their respective bedrooms while watching the same sitcom or movie comedy. “He always made me laugh,” his sister said. “I wouldn’t go nowhere without him.”

The Thomases spent most of their lives in Bronzeville until the Chicago Housing Authority closed their public housing complex a few years ago. They stayed at a CHA scattered-site property in Englewood until February, when they moved into Legends South, a CHA mixed-income property in Bronzeville.

“We were comfortable down here,” his sister said. “We knew everybody from State to Lake. When we moved back, it wasn’t the same. I don’t feel good hanging outside.”

Thomas’ neighborhood high school is  Phillips, where there were 122 violent incidents during the last school year, a 22 percent increase from the year before. Chicago Vocational, whose student population is more than twice as large, had 494 violent incidents last year, a  2 percent drop from the year before. Yet Thomas felt safer there because he could blend in, his family said.

School officials said Thomas had little disciplinary trouble, though his attendance  was spotty last school year. This year his attendance  improved, and Thomas was in school Tuesday.

–Kristen Mack and Azam Ahmed

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People inside shops watch ChicagoChicago reviews Police officers investigate at the scene where a girl was shot near the Holy Cross Family Dental office, 1841 West 47th Street. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

A 14-year-old girl on her way to a dentist appointment was shot in the foot on a South SideSouth Side reviews street this morning.

The shooting occurred at 8:47 a.m. in the 1800 block of West 47th Street and was possibly gang-related, said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Laura Kubiak.

The shooting was about six blocks from where 17-year-old Gamaliel Toscano was shot to death on his way home from Tilden High School Thursday, but police said they didn’t believe there was any connection between the two shootings.

The girl was treated at Provident Hospital and later released, police said.

The girl was on her way to a dental appointment on the block when she was shot, according to Maria Barba, an office manager at Holy Cross Family Dental, 1841 W. 47th St., where the girl’s appointment was scheduled. Barba and authorities declined to release the girl’s name.

A woman who works at a money transfer business on the same block, Lupe Rojas, did not see the shooting, but said she heard three gunshots. 

“It was scary,” she said.

–Staff report

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