There was nothing extraordinary about a Thursday afternoon back in February 2010, at Wilson and Broadway. There was snow on the ground. A young mother was waiting for the bus, holding her baby, outside of Popeyes. People went about their business.
Suddenly, shots rang out. Dontaneous Salley, 22, of the 4400 block of N. Racine, and Jeremiah Moore, 20, of the 800 block of W. Sunnyside, had spotted a rival gangbanger and decided to open fire across the busy intersection.
Suddenly, shots rang out. Dontaneous Salley, 22, of the 4400 block of N. Racine, and Jeremiah Moore, 20, of the 800 block of W. Sunnyside, had spotted a rival gangbanger and decided to open fire across the busy intersection.
Whoever their target was got away. The young mother wasn't as lucky. She was shot in the leg. Her baby escaped the bullet by a matter of inches.Luckily, several police officers were on the scene when it happened. It was the day of Sgt. Alan Haymaker's wake, and they were en route to pay their respects, making a turn at the intersection, when Vice Lords Salley and Moore decided gang rivalry was more important than the safety of the innocent bystanders at the busy corner.
Salley and Moore have been in custody ever since, and were sentenced this month to finish their time at Statesville.
Jeremiah Moore, the actual shooter, was convicted of Aggravated Unlawful Use of a Weapon, Aggravated Battery in a Public Place, and Possession of a Controlled Substance. With time served and the usual half-sentence-served imprisonment policy, his projected release date is February 2012.
Dontaneous Salley was convicted of Aggravated Battery in a Public Place and Felony Possession of a Firearm due to a previous conviction. His projected release date is August 2011.
The sentences hardly seem long enough, especially considering that a young child nearly took a bullet, but we're grateful they've been off our streets for over a year and that they'll be gone a bit longer. It's Moore's first conviction and Salley's second. Perhaps it's naive, but we hope they turn their lives in another direction after their releases.
Update: On June 7, 2013, Jeremiah Moore died on the West Side after being shot in the head. He was 24 years old. The Tribune story says: "One of two people shot on the West Side in an attack that an ambulance drove into was pronounced dead overnight, authorities said. Jeremiah Moore, 24, was pronounced dead at John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County about 11:45 p.m. Saturday. It's not clear where he lived." As of the same date, Dontaneous Salley was being held in Cook County Jail on no bond awaiting trial for armed robbery.
Update: On June 7, 2013, Jeremiah Moore died on the West Side after being shot in the head. He was 24 years old. The Tribune story says: "One of two people shot on the West Side in an attack that an ambulance drove into was pronounced dead overnight, authorities said. Jeremiah Moore, 24, was pronounced dead at John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County about 11:45 p.m. Saturday. It's not clear where he lived." As of the same date, Dontaneous Salley was being held in Cook County Jail on no bond awaiting trial for armed robbery.
These crimes should have carried 20 year sentences at a minimum. In just about any other community or state they would be going away for a long time.
ReplyDeleteBoth of these f#%ktards are well known in the community as part of the problem long before this shooting. 2 year sentences just tells them and all of their degenerate friend that this type of actions and lifestlyes are acceptable in our community.
Nice work Anita and Co. Keep it up!
This is why people are astonished to see such long "rap sheets" on these guys when they finally do murder someone. Then, everyone wants to know "why was this guy even on the streets if he shot someone and was convicted?"
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the Cook County Criminal Justice System. I guess we should be happy they weren't released "time considered served" for the time they spent in custody leading up to the trial. Don't roll your eyes, it happens. We have one of the most liberal sentencing records in the country. Add to that our past, imprisoned governor ending the death penalty and current one granting early releases to whomever he could till someone caught him and it all adds up to a more dangerous city that we all have to share with these savages.
Plea bargains I assume? Three charges on the one and he's out NEXT year? that's awful.
ReplyDeleteUsual being the actual shooter tacks on an additional sentence?
They sure dont look sorry, and they dont look like they are afraid of any consequences.
ReplyDeleteThey just look scary
Remember when there was this thing called 'Attempted murder" or "Attempted manslaughter"??
ReplyDeleteAlso dontaneous is an apt/ominous name.
ReplyDeleteRhymes with spontaneous,
like spontaneous combustion.
"Dontaneous Salley, 22, of the 4400 block of N. Racine, and Jeremiah Moore, 20, of the 800 block of W. Sunnyside"
ReplyDeleteWhile they don't list their specific addresses, I have a pretty good idea which buildings these two lived in, and they are both subsidized housing.
If that is indeed the case, can we be assured that when these two are released from prison that they won't be allowed to live in or even visit those buildings again?
To paraphrase a famous line in "The Wire" this is some shameful shit.
ReplyDeleteTwo years?
To the cops who made the arrests I say thank you.
To "the system" I say.......well it's best left unsaid.
Unfreakingbelievable.
Too bad that Judge Nicholas Ford wasn't the one presiding over this. He's known as "Quick Nick", for his quick decisions and long sentences.
ReplyDeleteWith sentences like these I can see why they say crime does pay.
ReplyDeleteI need to start paying closer attention to judges up for election. I have a strong dislike for lawyers as is. Not sure you can blame anyone but the criminals here and they certainly don't seem to care. Not going to go Tolstoy on everyone. Funny how we abolish the death penalty for criminals, but some are given a hall pass.
ReplyDelete@IP love " The Wire" btw. One of my favorite lines is something to the tune of ... Hey, where do you guys find those hats with the bills off to the side like that? Let's hope some of our empty storefronts don't fall to nail guns or our neighborhood the same social experiment. Perhaps that is what all these developers have in mind.
http://archive.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/02/2-charged-in-shooting-that-wounded-mother-holding-child.html
ReplyDeleteMr Moore, shown above since Blogger is on the fritz, is one ugly shithead with a bad haircut. Even worse he has an identical twin brother Jeremiah Moore who is just as ugly.
According to one of the cops who posts on Uptown Update they used to travel the hood wearing matching Daniel Boone caps. That I never saw. I would remember something as ugly and ridiculous as that.
His brother is a guest of the state at "Stateville Reception" according to the IDOC site. 3 year for weapons and battery charges.
http://www.idoc.state.il.us/subsections/search/default.asp
Just search for Jeremiah Moore DOB 1989.
I refuse to hyperlink and no direct link is available anyway. They do not deserve an IP hyperlink.
The one good thing is that if these two do come back to Uptown upon being released they will be easy to spot. Ugly is memorable.
But how do we make sure they never live in subsidized housing in Uptown again?
ReplyDeleteoops.
ReplyDeleteI was wrong.
Jeremiah does have a twin brother, Chris Moore, who is equally as ugly, but is not a current guest of the state.
http://sites.google.com/site/weupdateuptown/Newsletter_April_20081.pdf?attredirects=0
He was featured in that newsletter from three years ago which is where I remembered his handsome visage from.
Ah.....one of the prime complaints I have here as a 20 year Uptown resident. These two losers, lived in subsidized housing? How much money have they made here with their crimes, and how much pain and suffering have they caused?
ReplyDeleteRegardless of where they 'lived'...they should pay far more dearly for the suffering they have imposed on us.
How many of you angry bloggers followed the case? How many went to the sentencing?
ReplyDeleteIt's one thing to write a comment on a blog. It's another to follow the case and show up downtown for the sentencing. Standing in the back of the court while the judge decides the defendant's fate makes a difference.
You can't sit back with remote in hand waiting for a judge to make your neighborhood safer for you.
@ Rob Ross
ReplyDeleteSo, are you saying YOU were there following the case and sentencing in court or just acting holier than thou and chastising the "angry bloggers"?
No need to answer. Since you don't seem to know that the Cook County Criminal Court IS NOT "downtown" but at 26th and California, it's obvious that you've never even been there!
Nice try though.
@ Cone -- Rob may have gone. There is an active Court Advocates program. I still feel as though this was a plea deal -- as opposed to a situation where there was more wiggle room for sentencing -- though. Do you have more info on that Rob?
ReplyDelete@ Cone
ReplyDeleteNo, I did not go, and yes, I am acting holier than though, in a way. Nevertheless, the point still stands - if you really care about gang violence you will act accordingly rather than lament the state of things at your office keyboard before you skip out for an alfresco lunch in safer haunts.
@ meg
Even if there is a court advocacy program, I wonder how easy it is to keep track of offenders from this ward. This presents an interesting opportunity - when James wins the election, we might ask him to set up an offender tracking system that would gather concerned citizens and drive them over to the court to show the community's censure. That way, we wouldn't have to hear about it after the fact on UU. We can break the cone of silence, so to speak.
@Michelle
ReplyDeleteEvery year the Chicago Bar Association puts out a list of Judges that they do NOT endorse for re-election usually for ethics violations or other examples of questionable character.
Unfortunately most people do not know about it and blindly vote "yes" at the polls.
Here's an example story about it:
http://archive.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/09/9-judicial-candidates-not-on-bar-association-wish-list.html
@Michelle (part 2):
ReplyDeleteHere's the actual site with the pocket guides from previous elections. Look for these next year and be sure to pass out to your voting friends/neighbors
http://www.chicagobar.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Archives&Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=5064
@fear and loathing
ReplyDeleteThese are great links. I think it would be helpful to track judges, also, by their rulings on cases right here in Uptown. Volunteer?
Significant Other and I have been interested in relocating to the Uptown Area. As she had to come up to Chicago for work, we stayed over the weekend to scout around. I though the most scenic thing we could was take the 145 bus from our company digs downtown all the way to the Wilson Ravenswood stop.
ReplyDeleteAs the bus turned on Wilson and passed by the Wilson Station, she was taken aback by the sudden change in landscape. It looks just awful. Having lurked about in this blog for some time, I knew what to expect kinda, but the glimpse down an alleyway (behind Magnolia?) looked like a set from The Wire. As I will work off hours and weekends, would I want to have to deal with that gaggle of gangwear clad young men who were making their way towards Wilson at oh-dark-thirty?
Not exactly a Chamber of Commerce view y'all.
Anyway, we had a leisurely brunch at Gene's, and then made our way back east along Montrose (trying our best to stay warm as we are Southerners). SO likes cemetaries, so she was delighted to hear about Graceland as she wondered what was behind the wall. She has been eyeing a condo on Beacon, so we headed north up that street. As we passed Sunnyside Mall, I looked down towards Malden and Magnolia, and how peaceful it looked. I had fleeting thoughts of how Beirut's Green Line must've appeared before open warfare destroyed it, and how the things we take for granted in a civilized society makes for a mighty thin veneer.
The realtor showing that particular property was holding an open house, and must say it was gorgeous! I peppered him with lots of questions(told him I followed this blog and he laughed), and he was honest about the troubles in the neighborhood...More thoughts to ponder as I looked out over towards the the houses on Malden from the porch....
SO really like the place, and as we walked back down Beacon to Wilson, I told her that I wanted her to experience the walk to the El to see if she could deal with it. Same as on the bus, start to get within three blocks of the sadly dilapidated station (kinda reminds me of my time in places Banjul and Lagos where the infrastructure sports a faded colonial glory days look), and the clots of men who were staring at us pretty hard as we walked by.
While all this sounds resoundingly negative, it really isn't. Just my musings as I type. And thought y'all may want to know how Uptown presents to first time visitors.
SO is still amenable to setting in Uptown. To me, it looks like a neighborhood with real promise as well, so don't be surprised if we are neighbors in the next 12 months or so.
But...I'll be damned if I'll let a good chunk of million dollar investment by us -or the kind of peaceful comfortable life I want to lead that I pay for by getting my a** up and to work every day- will be threatened by the leaches that you are writing about here.
No offense is meant by the missives above. Just A Stranger in a Strange Land's $.02
Again, folks...please apply for your FOIC and become trained in using weapons. I have no qualms whatsoever of carrying a concealed weapon just in case I'm confronted by any of these soon-to-be-released 'neighbors.'
ReplyDeleteSid - I hope you and SO join us in Uptown. You sound like a valuable neighbor who could help us fight the good fight!
ReplyDeleteI know that very few people actually look good in mug shots, but anyone else notice that all the gangbangers pictured on this site all look like they came from Central Casting? It's like they're screaming "Arrest me!"
ReplyDeleteTrish...While I have a CHL for Texas...
ReplyDeleteI was under the impression that you can't carry concealed in Illinois. Has that changed?
Also, while its not all that hard to get the license to carry by learning some firearm safety basics... Actually using a weapon in a personal self defense scenario is not something you would want to see if you are capable of doing without specific training.
I have a CHL so I can carry in a car (which actually I can do legally in Texas anyway, but it makes it a whole lot easier if you are asked about a weapon in the vehicle by law enforcement), where I could use the car as an in extremis bastion, I know that I am not really capable of doing some kind of Charles Bronson wannabe action on the street.
Home defense is a bit easier..but again, you would want to train yourself up enough so you don't shoot yourself or a loved one, and make sure you can pull the trigger and actually hit an intruder when you are surprised and scared sh-tless.
Its not as easy as you may think.
All that said, if the ability to carry were legal, you may just find that crimes of opportunity carried out by gutless cowards like this one would wane somewhat because those fools just won't know if a person is armed or not.
Not only are such cretins generally cowards, they are lazy too. If they think you are anything other than an easy mark, they will move on.
TrishinUptown,
ReplyDeleteThere's one way of taking on violence in Uptown. Although I'm going to stick with the no-gun philosphy.
SO and SID,
Thanks for sharing, your story was very insightful.
Sid –
ReplyDeleteMy SO and I closed on a condo last summer. I’m happy to hear we aren’t the only crazy folks facing Uptown's obstacles and (potentially) investing in property. We looked from south loop to Andersonville, Lincoln Park to Logan Square and everywhere in between. We chose Uptown for a couple of reasons:
A. Holy Square Footage
B. Proximity to the lake (we run/bike frequently)
C. Proximity to the El
D. Helen Shiller is leaving (found out Helen wasn’t returning on a Tuesday, put an offer in on Wednesday.)
If you’re feeling a little unnerved about the Wilson El situation, I would recommend checking out Buena Park. I feel the Sheridan El stop is less shady. Grant it, it is completely dilapidated and occasionally smells like urine, but generally, has less loitering and gang presence. My $.02.
Thanks for the welcome y'all.
ReplyDeletenew2uptown, those points, in particular B as I own a boat, are ours too.
@ Rob Ross
ReplyDeleteYour point is clear, Rob, (aside from the do as I say, not as I do part). Your comment about "lamenting the state of things at our office keyboard", however, is a telling one. You are acknowledging that we have jobs. You can't be at work AND at court at the same time.
Add to that that court proceedings aren't as cut and dried as you would like. Defense attorneys file motions and request continuances so often that they are lucky the VICTIMS continue to show up, let alone some third party. That is an accepted defense, by the way, to frustrate the victim SO much, that they just give up. Then, sentencing is not handed down on the same day as the guilty verdict, so additional appearances may be necessary.
Trust me, VERY LITTLE about the criminal justice process is about justice for the public. We mean nothing to these judges unless they are handling a 'heater' case that the media is interested in and watching. Other than that, a few spectators standing silently in the back of a courtroom, isn't going to intimidate a judge into anything, any more than having a large turnout for the convicted felon should intimidate him into a lighter sentence. The most we can hope for, I'm afraid, is that each case is judged fairly and on its own merits, but there are certainly no guarantees that justice will prevail.
I wish that were not the case, but this is Cook County and not Utopia.
@Cone
ReplyDelete"Add to that that court proceedings aren't as cut and dried as you would like...."
YES, right, my point exactly. We need a way to track offenders and notify the community when their sentencing comes up. The alderman's office can do this, with an email list to alert citizens of pending sentencing and a liaison person between the police and the alderman's office.
To a certain extent, this is what Richard Thale and others already do. What's lacking is the last piece - a communication network to quickly rally community members to action. Easily enacted, I think, with the right alderman in office....
As a mother in Uptown myself, I am so disgusted at the minimal charges they got. I'm getting the heck out of Uptown. This place is a breeding ground for poor innocent gangbangers. Ha! Meanwhile, I'm afraid to take my baby in a stroller to the store!
ReplyDeleteJeremiah Moore is now dead.
ReplyDeleteInstead of applying your ignorant, superficial opinions to comments on blogs, maybe you all should grow less narrow-minded and understand that you do not understand. Acts of violence are ugly, nonetheless they occur... AND NOT JUST IN BLACK/HISPANIC OR LOW INCOME COMMUNITIES. Violence is rooted in anger. Anger is a secondary emotion, rooted in hurt or hate (a lot of times internalized). There is a cycle. Clearly. No one wants to stop the cycle. Everyone wants to ridicule the cycle, though. There is a foundation of hurt individuals trying to do whatever to live a more decent life. And not just in Uptown. There are people with lowered perception for quality of life. Who were born into the bottom of an unnecessary class divide. Yet, the people who build walk the streets and protest anti-violence... the people who send letters to or line up outside of officials' offices... Are the same people from the subsidized houses that Jeremiah won't be allowed back into because he was shot in the head. Actions are a heart's words. If you are doing nothing about the violence, then your heart has nothing to say. You should have nothing to say.
Frankiem Mitchell