Weekend Violence UPDATES: Officer Slain in Line of Duty
WBBM Newsradio 780.com Reporting
A Chicago police officer died at a south suburban hospital after he was shot while serving a search warrant.
Chicago police confirmed the death of 14-year veteran officer Nathaniel Taylor, Jr., late Sunday. They say Taylor died at 6:02 p.m. at Advocate Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn. Authorities say the incident began around 5:30 a.m. Sunday.
Authorities say he was shot in the head and chest. Police say a weapon was recovered at the scene.
Officers from the department's Narcotics and Gang Intelligence Units were getting ready to execute a search warrant on the Southeast Side on Lamar Cooper . The suspect was also critically wounded in the shooting; police say Cooper fired several gun shots.
The officers returned fire.
Four officers were conducting surveillance and were awaiting to execute the search warrant in the 7900 block of South Clyde Avenue when Cooper pulled up in car. Noticing the officers, the man began opening fire as he held two packets of drugs in his mouth, a police source said.
Officers fired back, striking Cooper -- a felon with a murder conviction, the source said. Taylor was not believed to have been among the officers returning fire, the source said. He was a 14-year veteran on the force. He was assigned to investigate gang intelligence and was detailed to narcotics. Police spokeswoman Monique Bond said the officer has a young daughter.
A hundred narcotics officers gathered to pray for Taylor at the hospital.
“Their [narcotics officers’] work is very dangerous,” Bond said. “You just don’t know what to expect or what you’re walking into.”
Police sources said Taylor was a very “well liked, stand-up guy,” who went out of his way to give advice and self-defense tips to fellow officers.
Cooper is in John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County in critical condition.
Police said a handgun used was recovered at the scene, where officers began searching a maroon SUV Sunday afternoon. Minutes before a drug-sniffing German Shepherd sniffed the vehicle before sitting down, an action usually indicating the possible discovery of narcotics.
Police believed inside the brick Georgian home, there were drugs, dangerous dogs and counter surveillance equipment--not uncommon in narcotics investigations. Three surveillance cameras were fixed atop the home, which had an ADT security sign and a warning sign with a silhouette of a dog on the front lawn.
Two Rottweilers, Morocco and Rocky, and a mutt named Hulk were taken from the home, according to the friends Cooper.
Kenneth Hastings said Cooper and his wife, Octavia, were friendly neighbors who often went to the area mosque.
Hastings, the father of Cooper’s stepchild, did not know what Cooper did for a living but said he was very “handy” and did construction jobs. Sometimes, he helped with his wife’s catering job.
“We just got back from Disney World in July with Lemar,” said Hastings.
Hastings’ sister, who didn’t want her name used, said she believed Cooper owned a gun.
Hastings said hours earlier, police removed a car with eight to ten bullet holes in the windshield.
“If they were serving a search warrant how do you get eight to ten bullet holes in a car windshield?” Hastings asked.
•EARLIER, POLICE WERE INVOLVED in another shooting, this one fatal.
Chicago Police fatally shot Eugene Miller, a knife-wielding man, Saturday night in the Marquette Park neighborhood.
About 7:15 p.m., police were on a requested well-being check in the 7700 block of South Kedzie Avenue. They came upon Miller attempting to stab the person who called 911. The incident appeared to be domestic-related, police said.
Police ordered Miller to stop and shot him when he refused, police said.
Independent Police Review Authority spokesman Mark Payne said his office is investigating. The woman who called police was not injured, neither were any officers. Payne said the knife was recovered on the scene.
•A MAN HAS BEEN CHARGED in the stabbing of his wife and 20-year-old daughter during a domestic dispute early Sunday in Lombard, police said.
Christopher Rood, 45, is charged with home invasion and aggravated domestic battery, according to Lombard police.
At about 2:30 a.m., police were called to the 100th block of West Le Moyne Avenue for a domestic dispute. During the dispute, Rood stabbed his wife and 20-year-old daughter multiple times.
Both women are hospitalized, wife in “critical” condition and the daughter in “stable” condition.
Rood was booked and taken to the DuPage County Jail following the stabbing. Additional charges are pending.
•KEVIN CURTIS IS DEAD, fatally stabbed after a verbal fight became physical early Sunday in the Ravenswood neighborhood.
The argument began in the 4600 block of North Rockwell Avenue about 1:50 a.m., according to a Belmont District police lieutenant.
Two men in their 20s were involved in a verbal fight that escalated and became physical, police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli said.
At some point during the altercation, Kevin Curtis, 20, was fatally stabbed, Mirabelli said. Curtis, of 4108 N. Lawndale Ave., was pronounced dead at Advocate Christ Medical Center at 2:20 a.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner.
The other participant in the fight was also injured and was taken to an area hospital, police said. Belmont Area detectives are investigating.
•JAMES PURIFOY IS DEAD, one of two men were shot on the South Side Saturday night.
The shooting happened about 9:40 p.m. on the 7800 block of South Winchester Avenue, according to police.
Purifoy, 34, of 7304 S. Fairfield Ave., was pronounced dead at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn at 10:35 p.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner. He had multiple gunshot wounds to his back, police said. The other victim, a 27-year-old man, also suffered gunshot wounds to his back and was listed in “critical” condition at Christ Hospital.
The two were in the street by responding officers. Police have no one in custody, nor do they have a motive. Calumet Area detectives are investigating.
•ISAIAH WALKER, 18, IS DEAD, shot "through the chest" in a South Side McDonald’s parking lot.
Police responded to a shooting at 740 E. 47th St. about 12:30 p.m., according to a Wentworth District police sergeant.
Walker, of 604 E. 50th St., was pronounced dead at 10:07 a.m. Sunday at Mount Sinai Hospital, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner.
Police said they are searching for a lone offender, described as a black male between 19 and 21 years old. Wentworth Area detectives are investigating.
•THE THREE PEOPLE FOUND DEAD in a North Side single-room occupancy hotel Friday afternoon may have overdosed on drugs, officials said.
A man in his 40s, a man in his 30s and a woman in her 40s were found dead at the Chateau Hotel at 3838 N. Broadway Friday, a spokesman for the Cook County Medical Examiner\\\'s office said. All three possibly overdosed on drugs and
were pronounced dead on the scene.
The three have been identified as Anthony Schiller, Daniel Whittle and Cynthia Catrell, according to a spokesman, who said the three had lived at the hotel for "a couple of years."
Police found the three people unresponsive in the room about 2:30 p.m., police News Affairs Sgt. Antoinette Ursitti said.
All three were pronounced dead about 4 p.m.
Belmont Area detectives are conducting an "ongoing investigation" in the deaths, which may be drug-related, Ursitti said.
A Town Hall District officer said the Chateau Hotel is a single-room occupancy building, which allows people to rent rooms for an extended period of time.
Autopsies were inconclusive.
•FIVE PEOPLE WERE SHOT on a Near West Side street early Saturday after a reported altercation between two men.
The shooting happened on the 1200 block of South Ashland Avenue about 12:30 a.m., according to police News Affairs Officer David Banks.
Two men were shot in their legs and two women were also shot -- one with a wound to a leg, the other in the foot, Banks said. One other man also was shot, police said.
The shooting may have stemmed from an altercation between two men, police said.
All five people were taken to local hospitals, although none of the injuries are believed to be life-threatening, police said. Police had no motive or offender information.
Harrison Area detectives are investigating.
•TOMMY JOHNSON, 23, IS DEAD. He was shot just blocks from his home Saturday in Maywood.
Johnson, of 1011 S. 14th Ave., was shot at 640 S. 17th Ave., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner. He was pronounced dead at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood at 1:25 a.m. A Saturday autopsy determined Johnson died of multiple gunshot wounds and the death is ruled a homicide, according to the medical examiner.
Maywood police continue to investigate. They have no clues and no suspects.
• MURDER CHARGES HAVE BEEN FILED after a man was killed and his girlfriend was critically injured during an early Friday domestic disturbance with the woman’s ex-boyfriend at a West Side apartment.
Christopher Jackson, 32, is charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder after he allegedly entered an apartment at 1816 W. Fairfield Ave. and shot his ex-girlfriend\\\'s new boyfriend in the head, police News Affairs said.
The incident happened about 1 a.m., police said.
Robert White, 22, of 4834 W. Arthington St., died of his wounds at Mount Sinai Hospital at 2:23 a.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
Jackson\\\'s 41-year-old ex-girlfriend has stab wounds is in Mount Sinai Hospital in “critical” condition, police said.
Jackson also has and is also “critical” condition at Mount Sinai.
Police recovered a handgun and a knife on the scene. They are not saying who stabbed the accused man. Harrison Area detectives are investigating.
•THE MAN FOUND DEAD Saturday morning in a Glen Park neighborhood alley may have been shot there Friday night, Gary police said.
Tony Jordan, 23, of Calumet Township, was found in the 4600 block of Massachusetts Street in the alley east of Broadway shortly after 8 a.m. by a passing motorist who saw the victim's feet protruding into the road, Detective Cpl. Arturo Azcona said. Jordan had multiple gunshot wounds.
Residents in the area reported hearing gunshots sometime after 9 p.m. Azcona said he has not determined if there is a link between the gunfire and the homicide.
Azcona spoke to the victim's relatives Saturday, but was still retracing Jordan's activities Friday night before the shooting.
"It wasn't a robbery; his pockets weren't turned inside out or anything like that," Azcona said.
Anyone with information about the shooting can call Azcona at (219) 881-7435.
•ALSO SATURDAY, an East Chicago man was shot to death, but few details are available.
At 2:30 a.m., Henry Austin, 57, 3813 Ivey St., was pronounced dead at the St. Catherine's Hospital emergency room. He had a gunshot wound to the chest.
Austin was brought to the hospital, so the Lake County Coroner's Office did not have the location of the shooting.
•THREE MORE 'MASSAGE' ASSAULTS have been reported, Lindenhurst police confirm. The suspect is a Middle Eastern man posing as a massage therapist.
Investigators are pursuing numerous leads generated this week after a young woman said she was assaulted at her home during a massage Sunday afternoon.
While there has been progress in the investigation, no arrests have been made, Police Chief Jack McKeever said.
Authorities said the latest reported assaults occurred in Antioch and were reported to Lake County sheriff\\\'s police.
On Wednesday, one of the Antioch women said she was assaulted last year after entering her name in a drawing for a free massage.
Police said other people may have been assaulted more than a year ago, but no such person has come forward.
Lindenhurst police Cmdr. Kevin Klahs said that other police jurisdictions have received similar complaints and every effort is being made to coordinate efforts with them.
Police also looked into Midwest Swedish Massage, the name listed on the massage contest announcement, and determined that it was "a bogus operation," Klahs said.
Investigators said it is likely the advertisements posted in local hair, tanning and nail salons were concentrated in the Lindenhurst and Antioch areas. Nonetheless, the Lake County Sheriff\\\'s Office and other agencies within the county and Wisconsin have been alerted to look for the man described in Sunday\\\'s incident who was last seen driving a silver Camry. He was about 5-feet-6 with black hair, dark skin, a large nose, bulging eyes and his first name was "Bin" or "Ben."
"We are searching everywhere for him," Klahs said. "Hopefully, we will have him soon."
•TWO MEN HAVE BEEN CHARGED in connection with a Wednesday armed robbery that left a vicitm shot.
Tony T. Rogers, 43, and Mitchell Hood, 54, have both been charged with armed robbery and aggravated battery with a firearm.
A 41-year-old man flagged down Wentworth Area officers Wednesday and told them he was sitting in his vehicle in the 5100 block of South Calumet Avenue when Rogers and Hood approached his car, shot him in the leg and demanded money.
The man told police he gave the two robbers the cash and they fled. But the victim followed the offender’s vehicle until he spotted the officers, who saw the vehicle and made the arrests. Both suspects were identified by the victim.
Police recovered a Smith & Wesson semi-automatic handgun and the man’s property. The victim was taken to University of Chicago hospital for treatment.
• HARRISON WINES is dead, found hanging in his cell Friday at the Forest Park Police Department, the Cook County Medical Examiner confirms.
Wines, 29, was taken to Oak Park Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 6:38 p.m. He apparently hung himself, but details on why he was in custody were not released.
Contents of this site are Copyright 2008 by WBBM. The Associated Press and the STNG news service contributed to this report.
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