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Wednesday, November 1, 2017

2 Killed When Car Hits Taxi On Near North Side

CHICAGO (CBS) — Two people were killed when a car ran a red light and slammed into a taxi early Wednesday on the Near North Side.

Police said a Hyundai Sonata headed south on Clark Street blew a red light around 3:15 a.m., smashing into the rear of a City Services taxi cab heading east on Oak Street.

Both vehicles spun out and ended up on opposite sides of Clark Street, about 50 feet from the intersection. The drivers of both vehicles were rushed to hospitals, but were pronounced dead on arrival.

Emergency crews couldn’t tell at first whether there was a passenger in the cab, due to the severe damage from the crash. Police have since confirmed the drivers were the only people in the vehicles.

The victims’ names have not yet been released.



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Judge Rules Out Special Prosecutor In Fatal Police Shooting Of Flint Farmer

CHICAGO (CBS) — There will be no special prosecutor assigned to investigate the deadly shooting of Flint Farmer by former Chicago Police Officer Gildardo Sierra, Cook County’s chief criminal judge ruled Tuesday.

Former State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez and her successor, Kim Foxx, as well as federal prosecutors all declined to bring criminal charges against Sierra in connection with the 2011 on-duty shooting that claimed Farmer’s life, Judge LeRoy Martin Jr. said at a hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse.

A request from Farmer’s father to have a special prosecutor take yet another look hadn’t offered a compelling reason why the case deserved yet another look, Martin said.

“I’ve had three different prosecutorial authorities decide, for whatever their reasons were (not to prosecute Sierra),” Martin said.

Farmer’s father, Emmett, said he had high hopes that Sierra might yet face criminal charges when he filed the request, citing Foxx’s reform platform on the campaign trail that special prosecutors were necessary in cases where police were accused of misconduct.

Tuesday, he said he hoped to appeal Martin’s ruling, but was not clear on how the case might proceed.

The Independent Police Review Authority, the city’s police disciplinary agency that had been revamped in the fallout of the Laquan McDonald shooting, last year announced it had reviewed the original probe of the shooting— which had cleared Sierra of wrongdoing— and ruled that the shooting was unjustified.

The city in 2013 settled a lawsuit filed by Farmer’s family for $4.1 million.

Sierra admitted to downing several beers before starting his shift the night he shot Farmer, and had claimed he thought the unarmed Farmer’s cellphone was a gun.

Sierra fired 16 times at Farmer, including three shots that came as the 29-year-old lay unmoving on a parkway.

Farmer’s shooting in June of 2011 was the third time Sierra had opened fire on someone while on duty in a six-month span, having shot and killed Darius Pinex that January, and wounded a 19-year-old man that March.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)



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Man Found Dead After Apparent Hit-And-Run In Avalon Park

CHICAGO (CBS) — A man was found dead early Wednesday and appears to have been struck by vehicle that left the scene in the Avalon Park neighborhood on the South Side, police said.

The 40-year-old was found about 2:25 a.m. in the street in the 8300 block of South Stony Island, according to Chicago Police.

Police said he appears to have been struck by a vehicle, police said. Additional details were not immediately available and the Cook County medical examiner’s office did not provide information on the fatality.

The police Major Accidents Investigation Unit is investigating the incident.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)



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Man Beaten With Baseball Bat, Critically Injured In Hermosa

CHICAGO (CBS) — A man was beaten with a baseball bat and critically injured Tuesday night in the Hermosa neighborhood on the Northwest Side.

Shortly before 10 p.m., the 56-year-old got into an argument with a driver while he was crossing the street in the 4000 block of West Palmer, according to Chicago Police.

The driver pulled out a baseball bat and struck the man in the head, police said. The suspect then left the scene.

The man was taken in critical condition to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, police said.

No one was in custody early Wednesday as Area North detectives investigated the aggravated battery.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)



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Man Charged With Shooting, Robbery At Lawry’s The Prime Rib

CHICAGO (CBS) — A man has been charged with shooting someone and assaulting two others Sunday night during a robbery at a steakhouse where he used to work near the Magnificent Mile.

Marcus Norwood, 39, faces one count of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated battery with the use of a deadly weapon, three counts of robbery armed with a firearm and three counts of aggravated unlawful restraint, all felonies, according to Chicago Police. He was also charged with one misdemeanor count of obstructing identification.

marcus norwood Man Charged With Shooting, Robbery At Lawrys The Prime Rib

Marcus Norwood (Source: Chicago Police)

About 11:45 p.m., Norwood entered Lawry’s The Prime Rib, 100 E. Ontario St., and found several employees in the locker room, where he restrained them, stole their cellphones and announced a robbery, police and Chicago Fire Department officials said at the time.

A police source said he was a disgruntled former employee who knew his way around the establishment.

During the robbery, one of the victims interrupted Norwood, who then opened fire, police said.

One employee, a 28-year-old man, suffered a gunshot wound to the right arm and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where his condition was stabilized, police said. Fire officials said two other people were assaulted and also taken to Northwestern.

Two men could be seen being escorted from the restaurant by paramedics, one of whom had duct tape wrapped around his head and a bloody T-shirt and apron.

The suspect ran away after the shooting, but was apprehended without incident a short time later by 18th District officers, police said. A weapon was recovered.

Norwood, who lives in the Park Manor neighborhood on the South Side, was scheduled for a Wednesday bond hearing.

“This is really scary,” said Julio Ayala, 36, who was working security at the time at The James Chicago, a luxury boutique hotel across the street from Lawry’s.

He was one of dozens of people who exited businesses in the area and approached the crime scene, curious about the emergency response.

Ayala, who did not hear any gunshots, said he saw police tending to a man who was sitting on a ground, bleeding outside the restaurant before paramedics arrived.

“It’s normally a very safe area around here,” he said. “We see a lot of people walking around this area at night and I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

Ayala said that he planned to tell hotel management what he saw, adding, “We need to make sure our guests and our workers are safe.”



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2 Killed, 7 Wounded In Halloween Shootings Across Chicago

CHICAGO (CBS) — Two people were killed and at least seven others wounded — including a man who accidentally shot himself — in shootings on Halloween across Chicago.

The most recent fatal shooting happened just after 9 a.m. in the South Shore neighborhood. Harold Stewart, 63, was shot in the head and upper body about 9:05 a.m. in the 7300 block of South Oglesby, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He was found unresponsive at the scene by officers responding to a call of a person shot. Stewart was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10:22 a.m. He lived in the same block as the shooting.

Less than an hour earlier, a man died after he was shot in the head and crashed his vehicle in the West Side Austin neighborhood. At 8:24 a.m., Apache White, 47, was inside a vehicle during a drug sale when someone walked up with a gun and shot him in the head in the first block of South Lockwood, authorities said. White drove off from the shooting, but collided with another vehicle about a block away, causing his vehicle to flip over near Monroe Street and Lockwood Avenue. He was taken to Loretto Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 8:35 a.m. He lived in the Galewood neighborhood.

A second person who was in the vehicle with White was not hurt, police said.

The most recent nonfatal shooting wounded a 17-year-old boy in the Montclare neighborhood on the Northwest Side. The boy was riding a bicycle at 8:56 p.m. in the 7000 block of West Grand when shots were fired by several males standing on the sidewalk, police said. The boy was struck in the right leg and taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he was treated and released.

About an hour before in another Northwest Side shooting, a 20-year-old man was shot in the leg Albany Park’s 3900 block of West Montrose, police said. He was taken to Swedish Covenant Hospital, where his condition was stabilized.

A 14-year-old boy was shot about 7:20 p.m. in the Lawndale neighborhood on the Southwest Side. The boy was shot in his right thigh in the 1300 block of South Independence, police said. He was taken to Stroger Hospital in good condition.

Less than 20 minutes earlier, a man was wounded in an East Chatham neighborhood shooting on the South Side. Someone walked up and shot the 22-year-old in the abdomen when he got out of a vehicle in the 8500 block of South Drexel. He was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in serious condition.

A 29-year-old man was wounded about 1:35 p.m. in a Morgan Park neighborhood shooting on the Far South Side. He was standing in the 11300 block of South Aberdeen when a vehicle pulled up and someone inside fired multiple shots, police said. He was shot in the left buttocks, left hip and right knee, and was taken to Christ Medical Center, where his condition stabilized.

Just before noon, another man was shot in the South Side Chatham neighborhood. The 21-year-old was shot in the left thigh and taken in good condition to Christ Medical Center, police said.

Halloween’s first shooting happened just after 6 a.m. in the West Pullman neighborhood on the Far South Side. A 19-year-old man robbed two people at gunpoint of their cellphones, wallets and cash at a business in the 700 block of West 116th Place, police said. As the man was running away, he shot himself in the penis. He was taken in serious condition to Christ Medical Center, where he was taken into custody. Charges are pending.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)



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2 Teens Charged With Stealing Minivan, Abandoning Child Found Inside

CHICAGO (CBS) — Two teenagers face charges after they stole a minivan Monday from the Galewood neighborhood and later abandoned a toddler they found inside in Oak Park.

A 17-year-old boy was charged with a felony count of unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle and a misdemeanor count of causing a child to be endangered, according to Chicago Police.

A 16-year-old boy faces misdemeanor counts of causing a child to be endangered and criminal trespass to a vehicle, police said.

Their identities were not released because they are juveniles.

At 6:18 p.m. Monday, a woman left her 1999 Pontiac minivan running with the 2-year-old inside in the 6500 block of West North Avenue and the two boys got in and drove off, police said.

The toddler was found unharmed after being abandoned by the pair in west suburban Oak Park, according to police.

The two boys were taken into custody after crashing the minivan at Central Avenue and Jackson Boulevard in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, police said.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)



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