Thursday, May 14, 2009

Uptown 'Pedal-By Shooter' Arrested & Charged

From STNG Wire Reports
A teenager was charged Wednesday with attempted murder in an Uptown shooting last month that left a man critically wounded on the North Side.
Gerald Pitts, 19, of the 900 block of West Argyle Avenue, was charged with attempted murder and criminal trespassing. Pitts was arrested on the 4500 block of North Magnolia Avenue at 7:10 p.m. Tuesday and charges were approved about 11 p.m. Wednesday, according to a police report.
Pitts is expected to appear for a bond hearing later Thursday.
Pitts allegedly was riding a bicycle when he shot a man multiple times about 6:45 p.m. April 18 on the 4600 block of North Broadway, according to police. The man was initially taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in critical condition, police said.
The report lists Pitts as a Sullivan High School student.
Belmont Area detectives investigated.

18 comments:

  1. Is there a pic of this kid anywhere? I walk by the area where he was arrested so i'm curious to see if I would recognize him.

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  2. 19 and still a high school student??? Doing drive-bys on a bike?

    Pitts... dude... you've wasted your life. Hope you might wise up and salvage it but sounds like you're on that slippery slope...

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  3. Glad they caught the guy. But, really, how dumb do you have to be to attempt murder in front of witnesses and hang out in the same neighborhood right afterwards?

    I keep thinking of the many neighborhood kids who mourned and built a memorial to (gangbanger) Timothy Pittman less than a year ago, and it's the neighborhood kids who are still the ones pulling the triggers. Vicious circle, man.

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  4. I did see this arrest yesterday. Pitts is a short kid. They put him in the Police truck. He went quietly.

    FYI on the kid he shot. I guess that kid is a real thorn in the side of the police in Uptown. Another one with a rap sheet longer than my arm. The only reason he didn't die is because Pitts was to close and the bullets didn't have enough velocity.

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  5. Speaking of gangbanger/victim Timothy Pittman, does anyone know if there were arrests made in that shooting.

    Broad daylight? On a busy street? In front of countless wintesses?

    I would like to think that that shooter is not still on the streets.

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  6. "The only reason he didn't die is because Pitts was to close and the bullets didn't have enough velocity."

    Huh? Can you explain that? Bullets don't/can't accelerate once they leave the barrel. How do they >gain< velocity with distance?

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  7. Broad daylight? On a busy street? In front of countless wintesses?Because most people follow the "stop snitching" model. He had a good chance of not getting caught.

    The only reason he didn't die is because Pitts was to close and the bullets didn't have enough velocity.No, a bullet is never moving faster than the instant it leaves the barrel. It loses speed from there on out.

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  8. Yes you two are correct. I should of said he was using a .22 cal pistol that did not generate enough velocity to kill him.

    I was just repeating what the cop told me for the sake of the blog.

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  9. Hey at least there was an arrest made on one of these shootings. Now I hope they send this case to the new Commuity Prosecution Office.

    Put people on notice in the neighborhood if you commit a crime inthe neighborhood using a gun you will feel the full wrath of the people who live here. If I knew about the araignment today I would have moved my work schedule around so as to attend.

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  10. One down and hundreds to go. I say bring back old sparky in the county jail and lite up a few of these gang shooting punks just like they did in the good old days. Our law makers are to weak and too easy on crime in Illinois and looking at our streets thats all the proof I need to see it....

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  11. Did you guys read one of the original posts on the Sun-Times website? How f'ing crazy was this kid? Good riddance...

    http://www.suntimes.com/news/blogentries/index.html?bbPostId=Cz8OXTrOeXM0wB29mdluhFSfuCz3Jj4P2pXGa1Cz5EhxRQMUqtL&bbParentWidgetId=B8k88rWwXopuz5STgLeVwBLu

    Here's a question: what would it take for Alderman Shiller to publicly denounce all our gang-related crime? Isn't saying nothing really like saying that it's okay?

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  12. Oh yeah, the final paragraph (including a little dig) in my preceding link:

    "The area of Uptown in which the shootings occurred is a high-crime part of Chicago's north side. Uptown is notorious for violence. Alderman Helen Shiller (46 Ward) has an office at 4544 N. Broadway, a few doors away from a bong retailer.To someone glancing over this article, doesn't it sound like a) Uptown is a little violent; and b) the alderman is too weak to stop it?

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  13. Why would Shiller ever want to stop violent crime, or news stories about it?

    That is the foundation of her re-election plan.

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  14. Man on the Street, I hear ya but believe it's a little bit past the "slippery slope" stage. This kid isn't gonna see the light of day until his mid-40's if he's lucky (and with good behaviour). By that time he will re-enter a world with zero skills, zero opportunity and even less self esteem. He probably didn't invision being a "Prag" (prision bride) when he was huffin on the chronic, listening to 50 dreamin of bein a Gangsta....WE all can hate these kids for being such dangerous menaces. Truth is these menaces make choices that turn their lives and their loved ones lives to SH#T at any given moment. Don't waste your time hating them. They too reap what they sow.

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  15. Man on the Street, I hear ya but believe it's a little bit past the "slippery slope" stage. This kid isn't gonna see the light of day until his mid-40's if he's lucky (and with good behaviour).He's 19. It was attempted murder, not actual murder. I can almost guarantee he will be out of jail long before 40. And he will have a chance to avoid that "slippery slope". And he will slide down it again and someone will die. Maybe him.

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  16. you know, earlier this week i was thinking about something i've heard from a couple people i've talked to who used to live in the wrigleyville neighborhood like 20-30 years ago, that that area was once notorious for gang activity...that they couldn't walk from ashland to the lake down addison or belmont because of the gangs.

    so what happened there and do you think it could happen in uptown? or was it just a consequence of the increase of popularity and crowds at wrigley field?

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  17. so what happened there and do you think it could happen in uptown?What happened was the Southport corridor (roughly the area you're talking about) was re-mapped out of the 46th ward and out of Helen Shiller's control.

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  18. I remember once reading a gang blog about Lakeview/Wrigleyville, and they regretfully said when gentrification came, it drove them out of the 'hood. I remember when Wrigleyville was pretty grey and gritty, when I first moved back to Chicago in the mid-80s. That, and UR's mention of the Southport corridor - also pretty scary and deserted not too long ago - are really good examples of how neighborhoods change with time. Only Helen Shiller and Couraj seem to think communities should stay frozen in time. Ain't like that in the real world.

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