7 killed in 3 shootings within a mile in South Shore
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Seven people were murdered in three separate shootings that occurred within a mile of each other in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood. Police have not said if they believe the shootings are related. No one is in custody.
When President Donald Trump met with police union leaders from across the nation, including Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President Dean Angelo, he asked, "What is going on in Chicago?"
"Last year in Chicago, 4,368 people were shot. Nearly 700 more have already been shot since January of this year, alone. I ask, 'What is going on in Chicago?' What is going on? There is no excuse for it," Trump said Tuesday.
Chicago police were out in force in South Shore Friday night to support the community and hoping to put a lid on a violent 24 hours.
The officers were joined by neighborhood residents, including hip hop artist and South Shore native Che "Rhymefest" Smith.
"It's important that we all come out and our faces are seen, and the people who are involved continue to be involved and help one another in times like this," he said.
The show of force was held across the street from the scene of a quadruple murder.
Around 3:30 p.m., someone walked into a Nadia Fish and Chicken at the corner of East 75th Street and South Coles Avenue and opened fire, police said. Four people were pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.
Two men were fatally shot inside the restaurant. The medical examiner's office identified them as Emmanuel C. Stokes, 28, and Edwin Davis, 32, of the 9400-block of South Ada Street.
Two other men, Dillon and Raheam Jackson, ran from the restaurant as gunfire erupted, but both were fatally shot in different parking lots within a block of the restaurant.
"It's two people in the restaurant, still in there, dead. He went in there and shot them two. After he killed them two, he came out and shot my two nephews and killed my two nephews," said Willamae Jackson, Dillon and Raheam Jackson's aunt.
"As a Chicagoan I'm angry and sickened, and you have my promise that CPD will utilize the full weight of our resouces to go after the people responsible for yesterday's incidents," said CPD Superintendent Eddie Johnson at a Friday afternoon press conference.
This quadruple homicide came just a day after charges were filed in the city's last quadruple homicide, which occurred in Fernwood last December.
The Jackson brothers had gone to the restaurant to visit their mother, who has worked there for eight years, according to their grandmother, Georgia Jackson.
"She heard the shots and she knew they had just left. She heard the shots, and she knew they had just left out of there," Georgia Jackson said, through tears. "They were shooting at somebody, they say, inside the restaurant. My boys just got in the way, I guess."
"They'd come to get something, to get something to eat for their mom. So they're coming to get something to eat. Whatever happened here, it was at the wrong time, wrong place, I don't know," said Michael Howard, victim's uncle.
Dozens of onlookers gathered at the corner as police guarded the crime scene, which spanned several blocks. The bodies of the Jackson brothers could be seen lying under white sheets, much to the frustration of family members.
A young woman screamed at officers to move the bodies of Raheam and Dillon - who she said were her brothers - out of the lightly misting rain.
"Real talk, this is gonna make me go f - - - - - - crazy," she said. "Why they still on the ground?"
Hours after the shooting, when most bystanders had left the crime scene area, Georgia Jackson vowed to stay at the scene until her grandsons' bodies were removed.
"I ain't going nowhere 'til they get my baby up off the ground. I ain't going nowhere," she said, visibly distraught.
Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were at the crime scene. An agency spokesman confirmed the ATF is assisting Chicago Police in the investigation. Investigators told the I-Team the restaurant shooting was in retaliation for a previous gang incident. Residents say there's been a slow, but steady escalation of violence in that area over the past two years.
"Whoever did this needs to step up and be accountable for they actions, and get sent up for it before they get hurt on these streets 'cuz somebody's gonna hurt 'em," Willamae Jackson said.
Georgia Jackson said Dillon Jackson was shot in his back three years ago just a block away.
"Dillon was a homebody," she said. "I don't understand why he out here. What's he doing here?"
Family members said Dillon, 20, and Raheam, 19, were the youngest of five children. They had two older brothers and an older sister.
Raheam left behind one son who will turn 2 years old on April 2 and another 5-month old son, according to his sister-in-law, Shauna Jackson.
Dillon and Raheam Jackson were not the first grandsons Georgia Jackson has lost to gun violence in Chicago.
In December 2011, her 16-year-old grandson Jawan Ross, a Robeson High School student, was one of two teen boys killed when someone fired into a crowd at a Church's Chicken in the 6600 block of South Halsted. The Chicago Sun-Times reported then that Ross and 17-year-old Dantril Brown were unintended targets.
"I can't keep doing this," Georgia Jackson said. "I'm losing too many kids."
Last September, Arthur Chaney was found guilty of murder and attempted murder in the 2011 shooting.
Shortly after noon Thursday, a 26-year-old pregnant woman was found dead inside an apartment in the 7500-block of South Luella Avenue, blocks away from the restaurant. Patrice L. Calvin had been shot in the head. She was four months pregnant.
Officers were called to the apartment building on Wednesday around 9 p.m. after gunshots were reported.
"Police got the call. Neighbors called them. They came and knocked on the door. Why didn't you open the door? My daughter could have been in there bleeding. She could have still been alive," Aaron Calvin, the victim's father, said.
Calvin's family gathered at the scene on Friday, waiting for answers. Aaron Calvin said he spoke with his daughter two days ago. He said his son went in on Thursday to check on her and found her dead.
"Why is there too many guns in Chicago? That's what we want to know. Why is innocent people being killed for no reason?" said Sid Taylor, Patrice Calvin's cousin.
The family said they don't know why someone would do this.
"She had a beautiful smile, very independent, she loved her family, she was looking forward to having her first child," Aaron Calvin said. "My daughter was carrying my grandchild. That is two people dead," Aaron Calvin said.
The last killings occurred just after 11 p.m. Thursday. Someone in a black Jeep shot a 27-year-old man and a woman inside a gray van headed south in the 2300-block of East 71st Street, police said.
"I heard three shots go off. Maybe three or four shots. Then there were bodies lying there," said Nicolas Ambrose, who heard the gunfire.
The driver of the van veered into a pole. Police found the two dead inside the vehicle. The man was shot in his side. The woman was shot in the head. Their identities have not been released by the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.
No one is in custody for any of the shootings. Area Central detectives are investigating. Police said they do believe the restaurant shooting and the shooting involving the Jeep were gang-related.
Chicago has seen more than 130 homicides through the first three months of 2017, according to records maintained by the Sun-Times. Seven other people were wounded in shootings across Chicago Thursday.
The shootings came at the end of a month, which at the start of the day had seen a 43 percent drop in homicides year-over-year, according to Chicago Police. March 2016 saw 46 homicides, while March 2017 recorded 26 before the five homicides on Thursday in South Shore.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
