101 shot, 14 fatally, in July 4 weekend gun violence across Chicago

CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) - Fourteen people were killed and 87 others were wounded in shootings across Chicago in a bloody Fourth of July weekend between Friday afternoon and Wednesday morning.

Last year’s Independence Day weekend, which was one day shorter than this year’s, ended with 66 people shot, four of them fatally — a total that actually stoked cautious optimism with the lowest death toll for the July 4 weekend in nearly a decade.

Six of the people who died this year were among 36 people shot across the city in an 8-hour span of violence between 8 p.m. Tuesday and 4 a.m. Wednesday.

The holiday weekend’s latest fatal shooting happened shortly after 3:30 a.m. Wednesday in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side. Robert Hicks, 42, was found on the sidewalk with multiple gunshot wounds in the 6200 block of South Laflin. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4:12 a.m., according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Hicks lived in the West Chesterfield neighborhood.

At 1:44 a.m., 21-year-old Devonte M. Morgan was standing on the street in the 7900 block of South Paulina in the Gresham neighborhood on the South Side when someone walked up and fired shots, authorities said. Morgan was shot in the back and taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead at 3:05 a.m. He lived in the Park Manor neighborhood.

Two men were killed and two others were wounded in a shooting at 1:17 a.m. in the Roseland neighborhood on the Far South Side. Maurice Anthony Willis, 33, and 35-year-old Derwin Moore were standing on the sidewalk with the other men in front of a house in the 11000 block of South Eberhart when several males in a black SUV fired shots in their direction, authorities said. Willis, of the West Pullman neighborhood, and Moore, who lived a block from the shooting, were both shot and pronounced dead at the scene. One had been shot in the chest, while the other was shot in the back.

A 29-year-old man who was shot in the right wrist was taken to Roseland Community Hospital, while a 37-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the right arm was taken to Christ Medical Center, police said. Both of their conditions were stabilized.

Earlier Wednesday, one man was killed and another was injured in a West Garfield Park neighborhood shooting on the West Side. The victims were standing in an alley at 12:26 a.m. in the 4000 block of West Lake when someone fired shots in their direction. Jerame E. Moore, 30, was shot in the head and pronounced dead at the scene at 12:50 a.m., authorities said. He lived in the South Deering neighborhood on the Far South Side. A 37-year-old man suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the side of his body and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where his condition was stabilized.

Shortly after midnight, one man was killed and two others were wounded in a shooting in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side. Someone fired shots while they were all standing on the sidewalk in the 300 block of East 47th Street, police said. A 45-year-old was shot in the chest and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where his condition was stabilized. Another man, 33, walked into Mercy Hospital with a gunshot wound to the abdomen and was transferred to Stroger in critical condition. A third victim, a 29-year-old man, suffered multiple gunshot wounds in the incident. He was dropped off at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

About 8:15 p.m. Tuesday, 56-year-old Tyrone Burdine was killed and another man was wounded in an Austin neighborhood shooting on the West Side. Someone fired shots from a vehicle in the 1600 block of North Major. Burdine, who lives in the neighborhood, was standing in front of a home at the time and was struck in the head by a stray bullet, authorities said. He was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he was pronounced dead at 12:43 a.m. Wednesday. He was not thought to be an intended target of the shooting. A 19-year-old man walking on the street was shot in the back, police said. He was also taken to Loyola, where he was listed in serious condition.

Earlier Tuesday evening, 21-year-old Aaron Gordon was struck by a stray bullet in the Riverdale neighborhood on the Far South Side, authorities said. Witnesses told investigators someone inside a light-colored vehicle fired shots at another vehicle at 5:18 p.m. in the 200 block of East 132nd Street. Gordon, who lived in south suburban County Club Hills, was sitting in a parked vehicle nearby when he was struck in his face. He was taken to Christ Medical Center, where he died at 6:39 p.m. He was not believed to be the intended target of the shooting.

Officers responded to a call of a person shot about 11:35 p.m. Sunday and found 39-year-old Jermaine E. Blandin lying face down in the street in the 1800 block of West 14th Street in the Illinois Medical District on the Near West Side, police and the medical examiner’s office said. Blandin had been shot in the head and was pronounced dead at the scene at 11:48 p.m. He lived in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side.

About 1:30 a.m. Sunday, two men were killed and a third was wounded in a Bronzeville neighborhood shooting on the South Side. Police found two of the men suffering from gunshot wounds in the 4200 block of South State. Robert Cooley, 31, was shot in the head and taken to Stroger Hospital, where was was pronounced dead at 4 p.m., authorities said. Arthur L. Smith, 47, was shot in the chest and taken to Mercy Hospital, where he died at 2:13 a.m. Both Smith and Cooley lived in the neighborhood, blocks from the shooting. The third man, 49, later showed up at Mercy Hospital suffering from a gunshot wound to the right arm. His condition was stabilized.

Three people were killed in the weekend’s first fatal shooting, which happened about 8:50 p.m. Friday in the South Side Englewood neighborhood. John Hunter, 52, was found shot and pronounced dead at 12:27 p.m. Saturday at his apartment in the 5700 block of South Wells, authorities said. A police source said Hunter was apparently the third victim of a shooting that occurred about 15 hours earlier and also claimed the lives of two other men.

Javon Jackson, 30, and Sedrick Ringer, 50, were killed as they stood on the porch of the building, authorities said. They were each shot in the chest and legs when two males walked up to them and opened fire. Ringer, who lived in Englewood, was pronounced dead at the scene. Jackson, of the Fuller Park neighborhood on the South Side, died at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

After the shooting, the gunmen got into a white car and drove away, police said. Timothy Gordon, 19, and 21-year-old Jayton Dorsey have both been charged with three counts of first-degree murder in connection with the shooting.

The source said the third man was not found Friday night because the apartment was secured and there was no indication of additional victims. Hunter was discovered when a relative gained entry to the apartment the next day and found him dead.

In the weekend’s latest shooting, a 23-year-old man was shot in the South Chicago neighborhood. He was standing outside about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday on the sidewalk in the 9000 block of South Escanaba when he heard gunfire and realized he’d been shot in the right leg, police said. The man was taken to Trinity Hospital and will be transferred to Christ Medical Center.

A man who went to a hospital Wednesday learned that he’d been shot the night before in the South Side Gresham neighborhood. About 10 p.m. Tuesday, the 54-year-old was in his backyard in the 8300 block of South Kerfoot Avenue when he felt a pain in his shoulder as a large number of fireworks went off, police said. He thought a firework had injured him, and took himself to Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park on Wednesday, where he learned he was shot in the shoulder. His condition was stabilized.

At least 78 more people were wounded in shootings across Chicago between 4:15 p.m. Friday and 6 a.m. Wednesday.

Additionally, a Chicago Police officer fatally shot 37-year-old Quintec Locke during an “armed confrontation” Saturday night in Lawndale. Police said an AK-47 and a handgun were recovered at the scene. A nonprofit organization that advocates for police accountability said Locke’s family is consulting with lawyers, and wants the body-camera footage released sooner than the 60-day deadline mandated by the Independent Police Review Authority.

On Saturday, Chicago Police touted a 14 percent decline in shootings this year compared to the first six months of 2016, and they hoped to tamp down the holiday weekend violence with the help of a new gun violence strike force that includes ATF agents.

More than 1,800 people have been shot in the city this year, 322 of them fatally, according to data maintained by the Chicago Sun-Times.