Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween From Uptown's Gangbangers: Five People Shot, One Dead

We're combining these two posts into one.  This is what we know:

1) at 5:15, three people, including a 13-year-old girl, were wounded at Magnolia and Montrose.  They were taken to Childrens Hospital, St. Francis and Illinois Masonic in serious to critical condition.

2) Later this evening, more shots were fired at 1010 Sunnyside.  At least one person was wounded.  It was later confirmed that one person died, Marlos Canteberry.

Around 9pm, the police were called to make a body removal at Illinois Masonic.  We're not sure from which of the two shootings the death resulted.  But one person is dead as a result of the shooting on our streets today, and let's not forget the person who was struck inside his home at Malden in the wee hours of the morning.

At least five people were shot, and one died, in the last 24 hours.  It makes us ill.  Our thoughts and sympathies are with those who lost, or came close to losing, someone they loved tonight; and with those who were traumatized by what should have been a fun evening turning into a night of bloodshed and terror.
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We're receiving multiple reports of shots fired at 5:15 this afternoon.  What a lovely image : trick or treaters running for cover from gang gunfire.

"I live in the 4400 block of Magnolia.  I just heard 9 or 10 gunshots that appeared to come from the corner of Magnolia and Montrose.  This all happened at 5:15 pm.  I saw one younger black man running up Magnolia (white t-shirt, dark jeans).  I called the police immediately and gave them the description.  Police, paramedics, and fire crews showed up within 3 minutes.  I looked out my window to see trick or treaters hiding behind cars and trees on Magnolia.  This all happened in plain view of multiple children and families in broad daylight."

In other news, Ald. Shiller was quickly on the scene, expressing her concern for the children of our neighborhood and promising to work with the police in taking steps to end the violence that has plagued her ward all year.  Okay, we're lying on that last part.  Trick or treat!

Update:  We hear the police are putting up red police tape.  Not sure what this means, but we have our suspicions it's not good.  A commenter reports that he thinks the victim was being covered up.

Update 2:  We're hearing from people at the scene that someone was hit, but it was minor.  This is all speculation.  Just passing along what we're hearing, but nothing is confirmed yet.

Update 3:  CBS News is reporting that three people, including a 13-year-old girl, were critically wounded.  Story here.

Update 4:  A police officer tells us in the comments that red tape marks the inner perimeter of a crime scene and has nothing to do with type of injuries.

Update 5:  It grieves us to say that several sources have told us that the victim who was taken to Illinois Masonic has died.  Police radio reports have gone out for a body removal from the hospital.
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Posted at 8:30 PM:  "Now we're hearing that there are blue lights and police tape around Sheridan and Sunnyside.  Anyone got any information?  We've heard this from three people now, no details."

from the comments:

ChiTownPhilly said... I can confirm that there is yellow police tape blocking sunnyside off from sheridan halfway to broadway. There were four squads on the scene at about 7/730, looking around the scene. I did not talk to a police officer, however, the security guard at Jake's said that there was a shooting and, possibly two people hit. He also said that the suspects and or/victims all ran towards Clarendon Park. It is all heresay, but given the day's events, is very plausible.

Victoria Rice said... I live right off Sunnyside and Sheridan and heard 2 gun shots around 630-7 o'clock, shortly after (within minutes) several cop cars, fire truck and ambulance were on the scene, still don't know what happened. Makes me want to move though...

just some guy said... Fire dispatched to clean the sidewalk around 8:30. The street is open now, but there was red tape blocking the sidewalk on the north side of the street between the alley and Sheridan

43 comments:

  1. Yep....I was 60 feet away, at the corner of Magnolia and Montrose.
    Along with about 5 families with numerous tiny trick or treaters....the poor kids dove for cover.
    I told 911, what I presume to be the shooter...calmly walk to an awaiting beige 80's model car.
    Sounded like 10 shots....horrifying...and I thought somebody covered up the victim, but can't be sure.

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  2. if anyone would like to share their witness accounts of this feel free to contact the sun-times wire service: wire@suntimes.com -- thanks, we're here all night.

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  3. and the license plate #, driver decription and shooter description are...

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  4. Its becoming increasingly clear that these guys don't have enough to do on Sundays. Fearless with nothing to lose, and packing heat is a lethal combination.

    Probably time to mix things up in terms of prevention....what is being done now is apparently not working.

    Somehow the citizens need to take back the neighborhood.

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  5. If this does not get the media alerted to our problem then nothing will. Safety in this area has become a joke. You shouldn't have to wish for winter to take a safe walk with your family.

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  6. This is impossible, and clearly an Uptown Update lie. Guns are illegal in Chicago, so this can't happen. Don't you know?

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  7. ChipD is right! We shouldn't have to wait for winter, and cold weather is no guarantee against violence anyway. So many kids were involved and one shot is tragic and traumatic.
    Please be careful tonight everybody, there were a lot of menacing young men in the area of Malden and down Leland to Clark st. in packs of 5-7 or more, it felt like trouble and sure enough within an hour we had a shooting last night. Just please be careful tonight. Halloween makes some people crazy...this is sad.

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  8. All kidding aside you had me going for a second with the alderman thing... I was like WHAT????

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  9. Just confirmed that red tape = Homicide.

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  10. Thanks James, I emailed what I saw (in addition to relaying the info to 911).
    The sick thing as I said, was that there were SO many young children in the immediate proximity....families with young kids out having fun.
    The mothers I talked to were just shell shocked....they could barely speak.
    I've lived on Malden, near Montrose for 19 years, and this was one of the worst scenes.

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  11. Proactive is not in the cpd's vocabulary. When it's quiet they assume that nothing is going to happen. They let the gang bangers getaway with this. I'm certain that they will increase prescence for a week or two and then focus their attention elsewhere like wrigleyville where tax revenues are higher. Great job cpd.

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  12. >> Somehow the citizens need to take back the neighborhood.

    This happened within the Graceland-Wilson block club boundaries. Please consider getting plugged into the GWNA block club and, if possible, consider a leadership role.

    After being dormant for a couple years, we're slowly re-emerging and public safety is the #1 issue. Other priorities like replanting Sunnyside mall, having community events (e.g., had a wonderful Halloween shindig on Saturday AM), etc. are great, but we need to have a safe community first for this other stuff to matter.

    Lots of concerned folks around these parts, but we need to come together to work through public safety issues (see here to start: http://gwna.wordpress.com/2010/09/29/capsgwna-meeting-recap/). A large group of feisty, concerned folks will get the ear of the new alderman and make it much less comfortable for the 'bangers to shoot their way through otherwise lovely Sunday afternoons.

    Go here to see how to plug into announcements via our blog and via facebook: http://gwna.wordpress.com/about/

    If you (or anyone else) have any interest in getting involved in the leadership as we're emerging, lemme know... we can definitely use some more bodies to pitch in.

    Thanks.

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  14. Larry, its not CPD's fault. Such comments really aren't helpful. If you would like to blame someone, I would first start with the shooter (who knew that kids would be out tonight) and also with "the powers that be" in this city that have wontonly forgotten their duties to the average law-abiding, tax-paying citizen. They spent all of the money and now its time to pay the piper. There is blood on their hands tonight.

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  15. Anyone know anything about the shots fired on the 1000 block of W. Sunnyside? My block is taped off from Sheridan on one side to the ally near broadway on the other side.

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  16. The neighborhood would have been taken back and much safer for all if you would have hired the Guardian Angels at the start of summer. By now they would have cleaned up alot of these gangs that are growing in strength and gun shooting incidents that occure almost daily. The police and residents can do only so much with out extra help.

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  17. Red tape is inner-perimeter and yellow tape is outer-perimeter on a crime scene. It does not mean the type of injuries.

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  18. @ Wiseguy

    I have received NOT A SINGLE response in my many attempts at contacting the Guardian Angels. I've concluded that even they are to scared to come and fight the bangers. Unless martial law is declared or we are given the green light to pick em' off ourselves, I have zero hope of ever seeing a gang-less Uptown, let alone a gang-less city...

    How did the idea of the reserves not gain momentum? At least guys dressed in fatigues carrying M4's would give the thugs something to ACTUALLY be afraid of. Who knows, we might actually see some real change happen.

    God help us if I ever become mayor, I'd rain hell fire down on the gangs. We'd have a new city in about two weeks.

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  19. "Red tape for the past few nights did not mean homicide. No one was murdered."

    Quote from the cop I know, "if they put up red tape it means do not enter because it is a homicide."

    Just delivering the meesage.

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  20. The Guardian Angels would have solved this problem? Really? They do not carry weapons, and I think these mindless gangbangers have proven they have no regard for anyone. The Guardian Angels serve a great purpose in the right situations, but being unarmed they will be inneffective against gangs. I mean, the cops are armed and the gangs have proven they aren't afraid of the cops either.

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  21. so keeping up with some of these candidates who want to take helen's place. Don Novotny marched in the halloween parade tonight, Michael Carroll is visiting friends in Naples, no idea where Molly Phelan is, and I saw James Cappleman walking around the crime area talking to people and making sure everyone was okay. There were no cameras or anything following him.

    Just sayin

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  22. Molly was volunteering at the Buena Pumpkin Neighbors Halloween Trick-or-Treating event, as she has for numerous years.

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  23. Gangs are fighting over who is going to control the market in Uptown. There is a market because there is demand. Who is buying drugs? All of our friends that go outside during the party for a quick hit. The people that buy a dime bag and think nothing of it. You go to straight bars to get pot in Lakeview and you go to gay bars for meth. Everyone knows noone wants to admit it.Where do they get it? You guessed it. Three blocks north. What is going to take for it to stop? Unfortunately it will take a 10 year old kid getting out of school getting killed.
    Everyone takes pictures of drug dealers. Has anyone ever taken a picture of someone buying drugs and post it? Or a lisence plate for that matter? Try going after them and you will see how fast everyone moves.

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  24. @gt
    I think you got a good point. The "market" would also includes a whole lotta suburbanites who feel a bit safer scoring here than say the westside of town. We are considered "safe to slum". Drug use in the suburbs far exceeds drug sales so guess where they buy it.
    Its possible to shame some but not all, an example would be in prostitution busts when they put the johns photo in the paper, works to a point.
    The suburban side of the market is more shame-able for sure.
    Worth a try but its some serious and risky business, unlike me just splash-n-dash covering some graffiti the gang-bangers really would take it personal, a dude with a camera.

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  25. I live on Montrose between Magnolia and Malden and I heard the shots and ran down to call 911...one guy was hopping on one leg but not bleeding badly.

    There were many gangbangers in the area lamenting the fact that the police apparently aren't psychic and didn't "protect" them. The last words I heard before heading back inside: "No police is gonna protect us, so we gotta protect ourselves, and if a couple European-Americans get killed along the way, that's the way it goes."

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  26. Will

    That attitude of child-like, selfish justification, without the ability to connect the dots doesn't really surprise me.




    Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life... as by the obstacles which he has overcome.

    ~Booker T. Washington

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  27. Re gt's comments: The local "merchants" know that there is a pretty steady "market" for their products, in the form of suburbanites coming to the Riviera or Aragon or perhaps a private party and looking to "score" some refreshments for the evening.

    Something tells me that a lot more than apple-bobbing went on at local "adult" Halloween parties over the weekend.

    A common theme on this blog is that somehow only the local bad guys are "druggies" (both sellers and buyers) which flies in the face of what we have learned over the past 50 years or so. The "drug problem" impacts just about every sector of society - yes, even the condo owners (evil or otherwise) and their teenage children.

    Wonder if the pot-legalization referencum in California will pass tomorrow, and if so, how quickly will Illinois hop on the bandwagon.

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  28. Since the police complain so frequenly about a shortage of officers, I have a question. Why is it that I saw a lone officer, driving his police issue SUV down Ravenswood this morning checking for expired tags. He was driving slowly, checking each tag and getting out to issue tickets. Really, we have 3 separate shooting incidents and murder and he's checking tags. The hell??

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  29. This is Adam at CBS 2. We're looking for witness accounts, pictures and video of the shootings last night.

    Our Mai Martinez is working on a story on the incidents for tonight. Please contact her at mpmartinez@cbs.com.

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  30. @40 Year Old Student

    Here is a partial explanation

    Though the police department is undermanned they are also, paradoxically, underfunded even though they bring in the largest (someone please correct me if I am wrong) amount of revenue aside from property taxes. As the link above shows they are under pressure to increase that revenue (or at least keep it as high as in previous years) even though the financial state of the city and its citizens isn't want it once was.

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  31. @locallassie

    Now you're on to something!

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  32. another epic fail for the daley machine and cpd.

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  33. Since our Locallassie brought up the issue...would legalizing personal use of marijuana deprive these gangs of a steady revenue source?
    Money is at the heart of these gang disputes. Honestly I would rather see our suburban neighbors stop funding these gangs.
    I am no expert, but I wonder if pot use increased, decreased, remained the same when Holland passed similar laws? Its worth looking into.
    Without prohibition we likely never would have known who Al Capone was.
    Hard drugs are another matter.

    A question:

    How do you feel as Uptowners about jumping on the "California bandwagon"?

    Its controversial but the current state of affairs is costly in so many ways...I think we all agree.

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  34. C'mon, get real. First of all, I see hand to hand drug transactions all the time (just saw one as I was making the turn onto Sheridan from Lawrence earlier today - big guy in jeans with a big yellow L on the back pocket is a big time dealer there), and trust me, it's not the condo owners he's slipping drugs to. Some of the worst victims/best clients of the drug dealers are in the Lorali and Lawrence House, and it's well documented that the dealers were going right into Somerset House and making house calls. See police surveillance videos of Project Broken Arches and the previous Happy Wash drug sting to see actual street transactions and there's not a middle-class person in sight. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but I am saying that what I see on Broadway, Wilson and Sheridan every single day doesn't involve the middle class. Now the real question: If -poof!- drugs were legalized overnight, do you really think the gangs would suddenly say "My revenue stream is gone. I'm gonna put on a shirt and tie and take the bus downtown and apply at HR and get health insurance and a 401k." If you do, then you are naive. These guys are addicted to mayhem, the gang and lawlessness. They'd find something else illegal faster than you can snap your fingers: gambling, gun running, prostitution, burglary rings, identity theft, counterfeited electronics, you name it. They'd kill each other and have turf wars over that, just like they do over drugs today. Look at it this way, if ending Prohibition didn't take down the Mob, the street gangs of the 1920s and 1930s, how will legalizing drugs end the street gangs of 2010? Because we all know that the Chicago Mob just folded up its operation and everyone went legit when Prohibition ended, right? Yeah, sure, teehee. Vote to legalize drugs if you want 'em, but it's not going to end gangs, in this neighborhood or in Chicago or in the U.S.

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  35. Sassy - certainly, the shooter may be blamed, but do we have a suspect? I'm guessing not. The CPD knows that violence occurs in this area so why is it being ignored? I live right at the corner of Wilson/Magnolia and don't see them taking any pro-active steps towards stopping the violence.

    This is just another incident that will increase the police prescence for a short time. The police assume that the folks firing the shots are stupid, but obviously they know they are able to commit violent crimes and get away with it here. These gangbangers are in control. I wouldn't be surprised if the cops are being paid off, as keep in mind, we live in Chicago - one of the most corrupt police departments in the nation. On top of that, we've got an alderman who wants these folks to stay - this is her legacy. Target is also symbolic.

    I'd like to know what good that police camera has done on the corner. Looks like a waste of our tax dollars. Remember - our police department is located in wrigleyville and knows how to better deal with drunk cubs fans than folks wielding a gun. It's an 'out of sight; out of mind' mentality. Unfortunately, the majority of folks in our ward aren't tax paying citizens so the city chooses to ignore us - just look at cabrini green. It was only when the city realized that they were sitting on a gold mine that they began to increase presence.

    If my observation is incorrect then why isn't this violence happening on an everyday basis in Lakeview? The answer: The CPD!

    I watch drug deals go down everyday and folks drink in the street without a care in the world. I've called the police and it's a complete joke as they've never shown up. The reason: this is expected of our neighborhood. Uptown is a dumping ground for the city and the Mayor's office, Alderman's office and CPD all support this. Actions speak louder than words. I know that this occurence won't change a thing.

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  36. Of course the "obvious" vice crimes are visible on the "street" (the reason, I have no idea; whatever happened to secluded spaces in alleys and parks?). But the same crimes among the upper levels of society are still taking place; these people have learned how to hide their crimes.

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  37. @BooHoo & others: If you see a drug deal happening, call 911, especially if you can describe the dealer. You gave a pretty good description of what the guy was wearing. Come to your CAPS meetings (the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy). Your next Caps meeting is Wednesday, November 3 at 7pm, 3656 N. Halsted St Cetner on Halsted, 312-744-0064. They will take note of bad buildings, of special concerns, problem areas. They will listen to you. They want to know when it takes too long for there to be a response after a 911 call has been made. They will follow up on it.

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  38. "The "market" would also includes a whole lotta suburbanites"

    I'd say it's mostly the white yuppies who moved to the city for 'action' and love to 'party and play'.

    All over the north side lakefront are partiers, so don't point fingers.

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  39. I stand corrected, the red tape is supposed to be the inner perimeter. That seems to be the consensus.

    Of course, it sometimes comes down to whatever tape is in the car....

    Sorry if I posted inaccurate information.

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  40. The argument that the local yuppies are the ones buying the crack from the local slingers has been around for ages. I've never once seen one of my neighbors hanging at the CHA homes selling to another one of my neighbors in one of the condo complexes... Quite frankly, we yuppies aren't buying crack from street dealers. We're buying pot from our local MJ club and it's being delivered to us on weekends from our friends in the burbs who come over for beer and brats.

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  41. Brinni, I've run many reverse stings in the ghetto. Later I would attend beat meetings in the same ghetto and the common theme I heard was how "it was those damn yuppies that are ruining our neighbohood by coming here and buying dope". I tried to tell thenm that while we did nab some yuppies in our sting, the vast majority arrested were from the "hood". They didn't want to hear that though. I guess it's hard to face cold reality.

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  42. @gt, everyone knows you go to gay bars for meth???

    Thats just wrong.

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