Image via Complex Original
"Just last year, Chicago had over 600 caskets." — Kanye West
On 2007's "Everything I Am," Kanye alluded to the violence in his hometown, and sadly little has changed five years later. Chicago is expected to surpass 500 murders by the end of 2012. What's perhaps more startling is that murders are actually down in the Chi since the 1990s.
While accounting for only one third of Chicago's population, blacks represent roughly three-fourths of the city's murders in 2012. An alarming number of victims have been young men killed by gun violence. It's frightening to know that many of the guns seized in Chicago come from the suburbs, and over half of the guns are from outside the state of Illinois. This makes tracking the weapons a struggle for local law enforcement.
This summer has been a brutal one. Between the first of June and the 31st of August, 152 people were killed. Of those, 38 were teenagers. The deaths of Emonie Beasley-Brown, 3 weeks; Iyonna Davis, 1; and Heaven Sutton, 7, must be mentioned as well. We look at their lives now.
Know these names. Remember these names.
Written by Julian Kimble (@JRK316) and Ross Scarano (@RossScarano).
June 2012
Jamal Lockett, 16 (first image)
Lockett, one of seven siblings, was killed during a fight over a bicycle on June 2. Kalvin Carter, 17, has been charged with first-degree murder and unlawful use of a weapon.
[via CBS Chicago]
Joseph Briggs, 16 (second image)
Briggs was a freshman at Gage Park High School. On June 9, a single bullet fired from a gray sedan struck him in the head while he stood on his front porch.
[via NBC Chicago]
Romelo Golden, 17
Golden was shot 11 times on June 13 while standing in front of a house in South Chicago. Keon Tolliver, 17, has been charged with first-degree murder.
[via Chicago Tribune]
Shakaki Asphy, 16 (third image)
A student at Harper High School, Asphy died on June 16 after someone randomly opened fire on the porch where she was sitting with friends. One of those friends, Leon Cunningham, 18, was also hit; a bullet struck him while in his wheelchair on the sidewalk. Cunningham was paralyzed as a result of a shooting a few years ago.
[via CBS Chicago]
Henry Soyege, 19
Soyege, who lived on West Hollywood Avenue, was shot on June 18 during a confrontation that police think was gang related. He was pronounced dead at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
[via Chicago Tribune]
Antonio Davis, 14 (fourth image)
Davis was walking in Englewood on June 22 when a van pulled up alongside him. An armed man exited the vehicle and shot Davis until he was dead. Davis's aunt described him as "a loving kid. All he liked was basketball. He wanted to go to school to play basketball."
[via Huffington Post]
Tyquan Tyler, 13 (fifth image)
Tyler was attending a party with his sisters in Woodlawn on June 24 when a fight broke out. While Tyler fled the scene, a car drove by and shot into the crowd. His mother arrived to retrieve him and his sisters. He died in her arms on the sidewalk.
[via Chicago Tribune]
Lenard Trust, 17
Trust died in Bronzeville on June 30 after a gunman exited a vehicle with an AK-47. Of the ten rounds fired, one struck Trust in the head, killing him.
[via Chicago Tribune]
William Cook, 19
A shot to the chest killed Cook at his Chicago Lawn home on June 30. Police found him shortly after 2 a.m.
[via Chicago Tribune]
July 2012
Myrion Currie, 19
On July 1, bullets struck Currie in the chest in a vacant lot two blocks north of the Eisenhower Expressway. Currie was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital.
[via Chicago Sun-Times]
Demetrius Tribett, 19
When doctors at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn received Tribett on July 2, he was bleeding from gunshots to the abdomen, arm, and neck. He was pronounced dead at midnight, less than hour after he was shot near his home on South Ellis Avenue.
[via Chicago Sun-Times]
Ricardo Alcantara, 18
A bullet to the chin struck Alcantara on South Hamlin Avenue in the late afternoon of July 5. He died at the scene.
[via Chicago Sun-Times]
Adeniyi Adesida, 18
Alleged beef over a girlfriend between Dewayne J. Ford, 25, and the group of young people Adesida was hanging with on July 5 led to the teen's death. Ford drove past the porch on West Saint Paul Avenue where Adesida sat and yelled, "I got something for y'all, I'll be back." He returned with a gun.
[via Chicago Tribune]
Zachary Barrios, 18
Police arrived on the scene after someone described hearing two "pops" late on July 6. Officers on the scene found Barrios unresponsive on South Champlain Avenue.
[via Chicago Tribune]
Martin Tejeda, 16
A gang-related shooting on July 12 took the life of Tejeda and injured a 15-year-old friend. Two gunmen came from behind a tree, sending Tejeda and his companion running. The 15-year-old took fire to his legs but survived.
[via Chicago Tribune]
Nathaniel Gonzalez, 16
Bullets fired from a moving car killed Gonzalez on the sidewalk where he stood at around a quarter to 4 in the afternoon on July 19. He was in Englewood, on South Laflin Street.
[via Huffington Post]
Jamauri Askew, 16
Just hours after Gonzalez was murdered on July 19, Askew was shot to death in an alley on the 7500 block of South Paulina Street in West Englewood. Police believe that the shooting may have been gang-related.
[via Huffington Post]
Akil Partee, 19
Partee was killed in front of his apartment building after returning home from his job at Sears around 1 a.m on July 21. He was the victim of an altercation he had absolutely nothing to do with—two men had gotten into an argument earlier in the night, and one of them returned later with a gun. Partee was killed in the crossfire.
[via Chicago Tribune]
Alixi Johnson, 17 (first image)
Johnson, a resident of the 9600 block of South Merrill Avenue, was shot in the neck in the Jeffrey Manor neighborhood park on July 23. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead.
[via CBS Chicago]
Douglas Bufford, 16
On July 25, four days after he was accidentally shot during a home invasion attempt, Douglas Bufford succumbed to his injuries. A group of young men broke into a home in an attempt to rob it, and Bufford was shot by a fellow accomplice.
[via Chicago Tribune]
August 2012
Quincey Simmons, 18
Simmons was standing on the 1000 block of North Leamington Avenue on August 1 when someone opened fire into the crowd. He died on the scene.
[via Chicago Tribune]
Cornell Ferguson, 16
Three 16-year-old boys were shot on the 600 block of North Avers Avenue around 12:50 p.m. on August 2. Ferguson was pronounced dead at the scene.
[via CBS Chicago]
Johnqualus Turner, 16
Turner was shot along with Cornell Ferguson and another 16-year-old boy on North Avers Avenue on August 2. He was also pronounced dead at the scene.
[via CBS Chicago]
Sameer Barakat, 19 (first image)
Barakat, a gifted wrestler, was walking with his father in Albany Park late on August 5 when he was shot in the head. He was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical center, where he was pronounced dead.
[via The Deen Show]
Tony Dunn, 19
Police were monitoring the 6300 block of South King Drive on August 8 when they witnessed a man shoot Tony Dunn in the back. Dunn, who lived on the block, was later pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital.
[via CBS Local]
Donta Gooden, 19
Gooden, a transgender woman who went by "Tiffany," was discovered in an abandoned building on the 4800 block of West Jackson Boulevard on August 12. It marked the second time in four months that a transgender woman was killed on Chicago's West Side.
[via CBS Chicago]
Anthony Brooms, 19
Brooms, who lived on the 11500 block of South Yale Avenue, was shot in the head and left in a vacant lot on the Far South Side on August 14. Police found the wounded young man sprawled in the lot. He was taken to Stein Institute where he was later pronounced dead.
[via Chicago Tribune]
Richard Johnson, 18
Between August 17 and August 18, 20 people were shot across the city of Chicago. Johnson was sitting in a vehicle with another man in West Garfield Park when someone walked up to the car and opened fire. Johnson was shot in the upper back and taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
[via Chicago Tribune]
Derrick Baker, 18
Baker was shot around 12:15 a.m. on August 18 in the 11500 block of South Wentworth Avenue. He was found with a gun in his hand, but it remains unclear if that weapon was ever discharged.
[via Chicago Tribune]
Taylor Diorio, 17
During the same streak of violence, Diorio was shot in the head on the 2100 block of West 35th Street. She too was sitting in a vehicle when someone approached her and shot her. She was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 3:29 p.m. on August 18.
[via Chicago Tribune]
Alonzo Powell, 18
Powell was shot on the 100 block of North Pine Avenue, the last teen to die during the weekend of violence. Police found his body in a doorway with a gunshot wound to his head. A revolver was found near his body.
[via Chicago Tribune]
Alejandro Valdez, 15
Valdez, who lived on South Talman Avenue, was killed in the Chicago Lawn section of the city on August 21. A bullet struck him in the back, and he was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital where he later died. Valdez was the second of two 15-year-old boys to die in shootings that night.
[via Chicago Tribune]
Jaime Ruvalcaba, 15
According to witnesses, several gunshots were heard on the 4600 block of South Wolcott Avenue on August 21. Ruvalcaba was hit in the stomach, groin, and left arm. When he arrived at Stroger Hospital, he was in critical condition. He was pronounced dead at 4:50 p.m.
[via Chicago Tribune]
Jamal Clayton, 19
While standing on the 7800 block of South Champlain Avenue on August 24, Clayton was struck in the head by bullets fired from a small red vehicle that pulled up alongside him.
[via Chicago Tribune]
Lucian Dreux, 17
At the intersection of 79th Street and Drexel Avenue, on August 24, Dreux was standing with a 42-year-old woman when someone carrying a gun rode past on a mountain bike. Dreux was killed. The woman, who suffered a gunshot wound to the thigh, survived.
[via Huffington Post]
Aaron Gaithan, 18
Two masked men opened fire on the 7900 block of South St. Lawrence Avenue, wounding three people. Gaithen was transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 2:14 p.m. on August 25.
[via Chicago Tribune]
Johnny Howell, 19
A drive-by claimed the life of Johnny Howell, who was gunned down on the 600 block of East 67th Street on August 26. Howell was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
[via Chicago Tribune]
Jalen C.J. Stogner, 17 (second image)
Stogner, his mother, and his 11-year-old brother had only recently arrived at the laundromat in the Back of the Yards neighborhood on the final day of August when a verbal altercation between Stogner and another teen became violent. Alan Padilla, also 17, has been charged with pulling a gun from his waistband and murdering Stogner. The boy, shot, managed to stumble into the laundromat before collapsing. He was pronounced dead less than an hour later, at Stroger Hospital.
[via Chicago Tribune]
