Weekend Violence UPDATE: Seven shot in street incidents
Jorge Sotello, 28, was fatally stabbed early Sunday near Hanson Park in the Northwest Side’s Belmont-Central community.
Sotello, of an unidentified home address, was stabbed at 5639 W. Grand Ave., and pronounced dead at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center at 7:30 a.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
Police News Affairs Officer JoAnn Taylor said the stabbing happened about 2 a.m. after an altercation. It was not immediately known if the attack happened inside or outside. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday.
Grand Central Area detectives are investigating. Police have no suspect, no clues and no motive
•HARRISON ELLIS, 32, a known gang member, was fatally shot on a Roseland neighborhood porch blocks from his home early Sunday.
Elis took a gunshot wound to the chest in the 10700 block of South Calumet Avenue about 1:30 a.m., according to Police News Affairs Officer David Banks and was pronounced dead at Roseland Community Hospital at 2:10 a.m., the Cook County Medical Examiner confirms.
Ellis, a known gang member, was drinking on a front porch with others when two men approached him and asked him for drugs, police News Affairs Officer Laura Kubiak said.
Ellis told them he did not have any drugs, and one of the men took out a handgun and fired shots, according to Kubiak.
Witnesses told police Ellis returned fire as the two men fled the scene.
Calumet Area detectives are investigating. Police have no suspects.
•CRUZ BRIZUELA, 22, is dead and his brother is charged with drunken driving for a crash on the shoulder of the Bishop Ford Freeway early Saturday.
A semi was parked on the southbound shoulder of the Bishop Ford near East 115th Street about 2:30 a.m. when a pickup veered and slammed into the semi, according to an Illinois State Police District Chicago sergeant.
Brizuela, of 5220 S. Springfield Ave., was pronounced dead at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn at 10:46 a.m., according to a Cook County Medical Examiner.
Brizuela’s brother, whose name is not being released, was the driver of the pickup and has been charged with a DUI for the fatal crash, said State Trooper Valerie Hofbauer.
The crash is still under investigation and additional charges or citations are possible, Hofbauer said.
An autopsy is scheduled. •ISAAC HARRIS, 18, was fatally shot early Saturday in Dolton.
Harris, of 14519 Irving Ave., was fatally shot at 14921 Lincoln Ave. and was pronounced dead on the scene at 5 a.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner. A Saturday autopsy determined Harris died of a gunshot wound to the chest and his death was ruled a homicide.
Dolton police would not comment. Police have no suspect, no clues and no motive
• BERNADINO HERNANDEZ, a 20-year-old Elgin man was arrested in connection with the shooting of a woman.
Hernandez, 519 W. Highland Ave., was charged with one count of attempted murder and one count of aggravated battery with a firearm for allegedly shooting a so-far unidentified 21-year-old woman several times at her residence on the 300 block of Ann Street around 3:10 a.m.
The woman was taked to Sherman Hospital where she underwent surgery. Elgin police spokesman Ann Dinges said her injuries did not appear to be life-threatening.
Dinges said Hernandez is scheduled to appear at a bond hearing at 16th Circuit Court. A motive for the shooting was not known, but it does not appear to be gang-related.
•TRICHAUL McMATH, the 1-year-old boy who died Friday night in his South Side home was murdered, authorities said. No one is in custody.
McMath, of 7830 S. Escanaba Ave., was pronounced dead at South Shore Hospital at 10:50 p.m. Friday, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.
A Saturday autopsy determined McMath died of hemoperitoneum, cranio-cerebral injuries and blunt trauma and the death was ruled a homicide.
Police were called to McMath’s home about 9 p.m. Friday and found the boy unresponsive, police News Affairs Officer JoAnn Taylor said.
Calumet Area detectives are conducting a homicide investigation, Taylor said. It is unclear where the parents of the child were at the time of the incident, Taylor said.
The Department of Children and Family Services received the original medical examiner's report of McMath's death but are not investigating as they await official confirmation of an autopsy result, DCFS spokesman Kendall Marlowe said.
Marlowe said DCFS has had no prior contact with McMath's family. Police have no suspect, no clues and no motive
•DARREN DAY, the South Side man involved in June 2 motorcycle accident in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood has died of his injuries. His motorcycle struck a bus.
Day, 45, of 1649 W. 93rd St., was involved in a motorcycle accident near West 79th Street and South Western Avenue June 2 and was pronounced dead at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn at 8:16 a.m., said the Cook County Medical Examiner.
A Saturday autopsy determined Day of his injuries, sepsis and gastro-intestinal hemorrhaging. The death is ruled an accident.
•AT 3 YEARS OLD, CURTIS COOPER thought himself invincible.
He'd fashion a towel into a cape, and called himself Super Curtis.
But mom Pamela Cooper knew he wasn't invincible. So despite her family ribbing her about being overprotective, she never let the boy play outside without her.
Until Friday, when she let her son ride his tricycle outside his Cabrini-Green row home alone, she said.
As the 22-year-old mother watched from a window, a gate weighing hundreds of pounds broke from its hinge, fell atop the boy and killed him, Cooper's family said.
"So much stuff happens [in the development] . . . ," Cooper said Saturday, her thoughts trailing off.
As officials tried a day later to piece together the chain of events leading to Friday's tragedy in the Near North Side public housing development, condolences streamed in from all corners.
Speaking at an unrelated event Saturday, Mayor Daley promised an investigation of the incident.
"I don't have all the facts," he said. "Accidents do take place, in and around construction, and we'll find out . . . what happened."
Chicago Housing Authority spokesman Derek Hill said the agency is sifting through accounts of how the gate came to crush little Curtis as he rode his trike in the back of the home in the 900 block of North Cambridge.
The property, currently under renovation, is managed by the clout-heavy Urban Property Advisors (UPA).
"[CHA's CEO] Lewis Jordan and the CHA give our deepest sympathy to the family," Hill said. "We're waiting for the results of the investigation."
The Cooper family has retained retired Circuit Court Judge Llwellyn L. Thapedi and her son Andre Thapedi to represent them.
One witness said Friday she heard a noise that she believed may have been the 7-foot-tall iron gate's hinge breaking, before it fell atop the toddler.
"He wasn't out there for five minutes," said his grandmother, Velma Wade. "We figured the back was safer than the front."
The gate was one of many placed on both sides of communal backyard areas shared by the row homes. On Friday, some were chained to their sideposts because the hinges were broken. A witness said the one that fell was not chained, but that the bottom hinge was not connected.
"The gate's been like that," Curtis' aunt, Lisa Springfield, said. "You can see the parts rusted."
On Friday, a UPA regional manager said all of the gates that were not sturdy would be removed. Saturday, workers began taking some down.
•SOLOMON OWASANOYE, 50, of the 4800 block of West Cermak Road, was charged with first-degree murder for the death of Ivory Jackson, police said.
Owasanoye is scheduled in bond court Sunday at the Cook County courthouse, police said.
Jackson was pronounced dead at 9:04 p.m. Monday at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, said the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office. An autopsy determined Jackson died of blunt head trauma from an assault, cranio-cerebral injuries and sepsis. The death was ruled a homicide.
Police said Jackson was the victim of a May 30 aggravated battery in the 3500 block of South Giles Avenue.
Jackson was living at the Renaissance long-care facility at 2940 W. 87th St. the week of June 16 after being assaulted at a nursing home at 3500 S. Giles Ave., according to Renaissance attorney Fran Meehan.
“He was only in [the Renaissance] facility for four or five days before he expired,” Meehan said. “He had an altercation of some kind at a previous nursing home.”
The All Faith Pavilion (formerly William L. Dawson Nursing Home) on Giles Avenue has a history of public health violations, according to a release from the Illinois Department of Public Health.
The All Faith Pavilion and the William L. Dawson Nursing Home has paid at least $80,000 in fines since 2004 for “A” violations. “A” violations are given when a nursing home neglects patients, fails to properly instruct staff, or any other behavior that results in the “substantial probability that death or serious mental or physical harm will result,” the release said.
The nursing home’s violations include at least two deaths linked to neglect.
No one from the All Faith Pavilion would comment.
•A SO-FAR UNIDENTIFIED victim was shot in the thigh early Saturday in the Englewood neighborhood.
About 9 a.m., an adult male was shot in the thigh in the 6000 block of South Paulina Street, police News Affairs Officer Laura Kubiak said. He is in John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County in “good” condition, Kubiak said. Further details on the shooting have not yet been revealed.
Wentworth Area detectives are investigating. Police have no suspect, no clues and no motive .
•ANOTHER MAN, 19, was shot in the street, the 8100 block of South Sawyer this morning.
Police say an unknown man walked up to the victim, and fired multiple shots at him.
He's been taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in “stable” condition. Wentworth Area detectives are investigating. Police have no suspect, no clues and no motive .
•YET ANOTHER 19-year-oldwas shot while standing on a street Friday evening in the Ashburn neighborhood.
The victim was shot in the 8100 block of South Sawyer Avenue about 4:57 p.m., according to police News Affairs. He was standing on the corner when he heard two shots, felt pain and realized he had been shot, police said.
He is in Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in “stable” condition, police said. His identity has not yet been revealed.
Calumet Area detectives are investigating. Police have no suspect, no clues and no motive .
•DOUGLAS KLEIN, 65, of Bridgeview was arrested after Cook County sheriff's police, acting on a tip, found him operating a rogue fireworks store outside his mobile home, officials said.
Klein, 65, was arrested at the Rosebud mobile home park, 8700 S. Harlem. Authorities said Klein had a price list and $20,000 to $30,000 worth of fireworks in his shed.
Police said the fireworks were the type that could be used at a small suburban fireworks show.
Klein told investigators he bought the fireworks out of state
• CESAR LOPEZ, 19, the man fatally shot in a parked vehicle Thursday night in the Little Village neighborhood, died from multiple gunshot wounds, the Cook County Medical Examiner ruled. His death has been ruled a homicide.
Lopez, of 2647 S. Kedvale Ave., was shot in the alley behind his home and was pronounced dead on the scene at 12:39 a.m. His autopsy was Friday.
Harrison Area detectives are investigating the death as a homicide. Police have no suspect, no clues and no motive .
Contents of this site are Copyright 2008 by WBBM. The STNGwire contributed to this report.
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