Weekend Violence UPDATES

WBBM Newsradio 780.com Reporting

A 23-year-old man is dead, gunned down in a parking lot of a public housing complex on the Far South Side Friday night.

Mark Mitchell, 4655 W. Monroe St., was pronounced dead at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn at 8:55 p.m., the Cook County Medical Examiner said.

Police responded to a call of shots fired in the 13000 block of South Drexel Avenue about 8 p.m., police News Affairs Officer Amina Greer said. The property is CHA public housing, she said.

The Altgeld Gardens housing complex is located at that address.

Greer said Mitchell was on the ground with a gunshot wound to his back when police arrived.

Greer said a motive for the shooting is unknown and no one is in custody for the slaying.

• A 31-YEAR-OLD MAN, Dexter Blaylock, is dead. He was fatally shot during a fight in the Auburn Gresham community on the South Side.

Blaylock was shot on West 79th Street between South Laflin and South Justine streets, according to Gresham District police Capt. James O’Donnell.

Blaylock, 7221 S. Hermitage Ave., was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead at 3:38 p.m. said the county medical examiner.

Blaylock was engaged in an argument with someone and the fight escalated when the other man took out a gun and fired at him. He had multiple gunshot wounds. The shooter ran off.

The motive is unknown and police have no suspects and no clues.

Calumet Area detectives are investigating.

• A MAN WITH POSSIBLE GANG TIES, Ricky Gramt is dead, shot Friday night in the Englewood neighborhood.

Grant, of 6936 S. Maplewood Ave., was fatally shot at 2520 W. 63rd St., the Cook County Medical Examiner said.

Grant, 36, was pronounced dead at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn at 9:33 p.m

About a half-hour earlier, he was in a van at the 63rd Street address when someone walked up and fired multiple shots, police News Affairs Officer Amina Greer said. Grant was hit several times. The shooter ran off, Greer said.

The shooting is believed to be gang-related, but such details are not available. Police have no suspects and no clues.

Wentworth Area detectives are investigating.

• A 29-YEAR-OLD MAN, Shavel Monegan, is dead, after being shot multiple times about a block from his home in the Park Manor neighborhood.

Officers responded to a call of shots fired in the 7000 block of South Michigan Avenue just before 1 a.m., said police News Affairs Officer Amina Greer said.

Upon arrival, they discovered Monegan in the street with multiple gunshot wounds.

Monegan, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office, was taken to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County in critical condition, but he died just over an hour after arriving at the hospital.

Monegan, of 6936 S. Indiana Ave., was pronounced dead at 2:47 a.m., the medical examiner said.

Police have no suspects and no clues.

Calumet Area detectives are investigating.

• A 4-YEAR-OLD BOY is in critical condition after being attacked by a pit bull while in his own backyard in the Humboldt Park neighborhood.

About 7:30 p.m., the boy was in his yard in the 3500 block of West Cortland Street when a pit bull, which also lived in the building, attacked him, police News Affairs Officer Amina Greer said.

The child was taken to Children’s Memorial Hospital in critical condition, Greer said.

The dog's owner, William Baez, 58, of the same address on Cortland Street, was issued citations for no dog license and for owner responsibility in an incident where an animal bit another person, Greer said.

Baez will be in court on Oct. 29 at 2:30 p.m.

• A FRIDAY AUTOPSY shows the death of a man found shot to death outside his Dolton home was a homicide.

Marquise Grandberry, 29, of 14750 Evans Court was shot at his home and pronounced dead on the scene at 4 a.m. Friday, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner. The Friday autopsy determined he died of multiple gunshot wounds. His death is ruled a homicide.

Sources said police found Grandberry shot outside his home. Dolton police are investigating, but have refused to comment on the case.

• A 17-YEAR-OLD BOY was found shot to death Friday evening in the Englewood neighborhood.
Police responded to a shooting in the 1500 block of West 69th St. at 6:44 p.m. and found the boy unresponsive with multiple gunshot wounds to his body, according to police News Affairs.

Cory L. Hatter, of 7006 S. Throop St., was pronounced dead at the scene at 8:45 p.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.

Wentworth Area detectives are investigating. Police have no clues and no suspects/

• THE MAJOR CASE ASSISTANCE TEAM is helping police investigate the murder of a teen found fatally shot inside his Hoffman Estates home Thursday afternoon.

Joseph Ziegler, 19, of 380 Payson St., was pronounced dead on the scene, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office. The Friday autopsy showed he died from a gunshot to the head. His death is ruled a homicide.

At 5:30 p.m., police responded to the 300 block of Payson after receiving a 911 call and found the body inside the single-family home, according to Hoffman Estates police Lt. Rich Russo.

The call was to report an unconscious person after the body was found by Ziegler's father in his bedroom in the basement, according to a release from police.

There were no signs of forced entry or a struggle, and nothing was stolen. Police believe the incident was not a random shooting but a targeted crime, and are following up on several leads, the release said.

Russo said the Major Case Assistance Team, a SWAT team put into effect after the 1993 Brown’s Chicken murders in northwest suburban Palatine, responded Thursday night after police requested assistance.

“I would assume they hit the ground running,’’ with their probe, according to Russo, who said they are seeking to talk to any witnesses or suspects.

No one is in custody.

• THE MAJOR CASE ASSISTANCE TEAM iA TODDLER WAS FATALLY CRUSHED by her parents' van after it was broadsided by another vehicle that blew a stop sign in Zion.

According to Lake County Coroner Dr. Richard Keller, Idaliz Lopez had multiple traumatic injuries to the head and chest consistent with being crushed.

Zion Police Chief Larry Booth said Idaliz, of the 2100 block of Elisha Avenue, was found underneath her parents’ 1996 Chrysler Town and Country van after it rolled over following being struck by an eastbound vehicle around 6:30 a.m.

Her mother, 22-year-old Amanda Ramirez, said her nearly 2-year-old daughter was secured in a forward-facing child safety seat when the accident happened.

Booth said moments after the collision area residents frantically attempted to lift the van into the upright position as it rested on its side. Idaliz was eventually pulled from underneath the van and rushed to Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan, where she was pronounced dead.

Booth said the accident is still under investigation.

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