Gang Involvement

Police also are investigating another slaying. This one involved Kenneth Cruz, 17, of the 1800 block of West 46th Street, who is believed to have been shot by rival gang members Friday at 45th Street near Wood Street.

In Englewood, Timothy Powell, 17, of S. Damen Ave., was being held on a charge of first-degree murder in the drive-by shooting Friday of Patrick Maxey, 29, of the 2500 block of South Washtenaw Avenue.

Six Chicago teenagers have been charged with one count each of first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of an Evanston man Friday evening in the Edgewater neighborhood. The victim, Adrian Uriostegui, 18, of the 100 block of Clyde Avenue, was standing at 5701 N. Clark St. at 6:30 p.m. when the six teenagers approached him, police said. Uriostegui was shot in the head and back.

March 6, 1998

A 16-year-old boy was charged with first-degree murder Thursday in the fatal shooting of a teenager during a quarrel over the victim's girlfriend, the first homicide in Park City in 19 years, police said.

In recent years, they said, gang graffiti have been splattered across buildings, gunshots are regularly heard at night and large groups of young people flashing gang signs are seen milling around.

March 5, 1998

A Park City teenager was charged Wednesday with opening fire on two teens as they drove past a park, police said.

No one was injured.

The shooting happened about 7:30 p.m. Monday in front of Northwoods Park, near Greenview and Northwoods Streets.

Charged was Edgar Lara, 18, described by police as a member of the Latin Saints gang. Lara, arrested Wednesday while standing on a Park City corner, was charged with aggravated discharge of a firearm and unlawful use of a weapon.

GANG LEADER ON TRIAL

FORT MYERS, Fla., _ A Fort Myers, Fla., man, allegedly the leader of a gang known as the ``Lords of Chaos,'' is on trial for the 1996 murder of a high school band teacher.

Kevin Foster, called ``God'' by other members of the gang, is accused of shooting Mark Schwebes in the face with a 12-gauge shotgun then shooting him in the buttocks as he lay dying.

Five members of the gang are serving sentences on a variety of crimes after plea bargains kept them from facing the electric chair.

The prosecution is asking the death penalty for Foster if he is convicted.

Public Defender Robert Jacobs says Foster has an alibi and witnesses who will testify his client was not present at the murder scene.

The gang was on a crime spree that included setting a fire that nearly destroyed the historic Fort Myers Coca-Cola bottling plant armed robberies and carjacking and torching a Baptist Church when Schwebes unwittingly became a victim.

Schwebes spotted Thomas Torrone and Christopher Black standing outside Riverdale High School with cans of peaches in their hands prepared to throw then through the windows of the school auditorium.

The band teacher told them he planned to report them to the school principal the next morning.

The prosecution alleges later that same day Torrone, Black, Peter Magnotti, Derek Shields and Foster drove to Schwebes' apartment where Foster shot him.

February 25, 1998

Elgin -- Witnesses reported a man fired four shots at a parked car Monday evening near the intersection of South Street and Crystal Avenue. No one was hurt in the shooting. No arrests have been made, but police said they are classifying the shooting as gang-related.

February 23, 1998

NORTHWEST SIDE -- A 19-year-old man was fatally shot early Sunday in the Ravenswood neighborhood, an incident that police said may have been gang-related.

An unidentified car carrying about seven people pulled up to the group, and one person got out and began arguing with them, said Belmont Area Sgt. John Schillen. The victim and his friends then started running east on Gunnison, Schillen said, and the person fired a shot in their direction, hitting Giannakopoulos.

February 20, 1998

In the 14 months since the slaying of a teenager near Evanston Township High School rattled the north suburb, police have quietly questioned hundreds of people who were arrested for everything from traffic violations to drug dealing.

This week, police said they finally developed enough evidence to make an arrest. Without elaborating on how they broke the case, prosecutors charged two youths that had allegedly shot the Evanston sophomore because they mistakenly believed he belonged to a rival gang.

Frank Drew, 18, of Evanston, and Jeffrey Lurry, 16, who lived near Naples, Fla., each face one count of first-degree murder. Investigators said Lurry is a juvenile but was charged Tuesday as an adult.

Drew, who was on probation for a gun-related conviction at the time of the shooting, was charged late Wednesday.

Assistant Cook County State's Atty. Kevin Cawley said Drew and Lurry were drinking beer at Penny Park in Evanston on the night of Dec. 12. Cawley said the two youths were angry because they had had previous run-ins with a rival gang member, and they decided to shoot any rival gang member they could find for revenge. Cawley said Drew shot Walker twice in the head at close range with a .32-caliber handgun. Both youths fled on foot.

Cawley said Drew was on probation for an unlawful use of a weapon conviction when he allegedly shot Walker.

LOS ANGELES,_ A suspected gang member sentenced to death for the carjacking murders of two Japanese exchange students has been sentenced to a death a second time for killing a fellow jail inmate.

Los Angeles County prosecutors say 23-year-old Raymond Oscar Butler and two other inmates stabbed inmate Tyrone Fleming to death with a jail-made shank while Butler was awaiting trial in March 1995 for the carjacking killings.

The students' slayings sparked an international controversy and heightened concerns about violence in the United States.

Butler was convicted of first-degree murder for the robbing 19-year- old Marymount College students Go Matsuura and Takuma Ito in the parking lot of a Los Angeles supermarket, shooting both in the head and stealing their white Honda Civic. He was sentenced to death in 1996 for that crime.

February 17, 1998

The hooded, masked man waited until 9:30 p.m. before stepping in front of the Elgin Recreation Center, a building that normally serves as a safe haven for children as well as gang members.

Without a word, he raised a handgun and fired three shots at the building, leaving the six people inside stunned and shaken.

No one was hurt in the Feb. 5 attack. But the bullet hole that remains in the glass door is a grim reminder that what once was considered a neutral, gang-free sanctuary may be no longer.

Formerly known as God's Gym, the club provides recreation, athletics and education for gang members as well as children3 considered at risk of joining gangs.

But those who have opposed using city money to finance the center say the shooting illustrates a classic case of good intentions gone awry--a scenario that has played out locally and across the country in communities with gang problems.

As community centers and activists make even slight inroads against gangs, they also become visible, vulnerable targets. In Chicago, Arnold Mireles, an activist who worked to cleanse his community of gangs and slum landlords, was shot while walking home from the community center where he worked.

Several years ago, some Mt. Prospect residents feared that the park district's RecPlex center was turning into a hangout for gang members. And in Joliet, the Forest Park Community Center has a full-time neighborhood police officer stationed inside.

Critics of the Elgin Recreation Center say that instead of encouraging gang members to abandon the gang lifestyle, the center has given them a place to hang out, and now has become a target for rival gangs. Since the center also has programs for children as young as kindergartners, some, such as City Councilman Terry Gavin, say the center has become a dangerous place.

Perez's latest project is called "God's Way," and it is what he suspects might have triggered the shooting. A Barrington businessman has agreed to give 12 men jobs building swimming pools and decks this summer, with pay ranging from $35,000 to $40,000 each. Perez has been actively recruiting gang leaders for these jobs.

A similar shooting incident occurred about 15 years ago after the first midnight basketball game in Joliet, a program that brought several gangs together. No one was hurt, but the shooting nearly derailed that program, which still exists.

February 14, 1998

Just before 23-year-old Tyrone Walker was shot while driving on the Dan Ryan Expressway Friday morning, he saw a passing motorist flashing him a gang sign.

Then, seconds later, the gunman opened fire on Walker's van 12 or 13 times, according to the Illinois State Police. Some of those bullets pierced Walker's left arm and back, causing him to lose control of the van, which crashed into a wall and then screeched across the right lanes. Reed, a passenger in the van had between $4,000 and $5,000 in cash on him, according to State Police Lt. Chris Casey. Investigators don't know if the money had anything to do with the shooting.

The incident was the second drive-by in less than two weeks that police believe to be gang-related.

February 12, 1998

A Highwood man was indicted Wednesday by a Lake County grand jury in the shooting of one man and the pistol-whipping of another outside a Highwood eatery last month.

Gabriel V. Granados, 18, was indicted on one count each of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and armed violence, authorities said. The crimes are felonies punishable by 6 to 30 years in state prison, said Lake County Assistant State's Atty. Steve Scheller.

Granados also was indicted on one count of aggravated discharge of a firearm and one count of aggravated battery.

The attacks occured about 11:15 p.m. Jan. 22 outside the Hoagie Hut at in Highwood.

According to Scheller, Luis Barbosa, 37, of Northfield and Jorge Vega, 23, of Highwood were leaving the restaurant when a driver who thought they were members of a rival gang stopped his car and approached both men. Scheller said the man pulled out a gun and struck Vega twice in the head with the weapon.

According to Scheller, the attacker turned the weapon on Barbosa as he tried to help Vega, shooting Barbosa in the chest. The gunman shot at Vega but missed. Neither man was critically injured; the bullet that struck Barbosa lodged between two ribs.

Highwood police that said Granados was identified in a photographic lineup. Scheller said police went to Granados' home because his car matched witnesses' descriptions of the shooter's car.

February 10, 1998

According to police officials, Club Soda, a month-old teen club between Winthrop Harbor and Zion, was shut down late Saturday following a brawl that escalated into a shooting in the parking lot. Police said a 16-year-old girl--a bystander--was shot in the thigh, and a 15-year-old boy was shot in the hand.

According to Lt. Chuck Fagan of the Lake County Sheriff's Department, the Saturday-night mayhem at Club Soda started about 11, when a 17-year-old punched out a window because a girl refused to dance with him. He said bouncers ejected the youth, which flashed gang signs to some of his friends as he left the building.

Fagan said a large group of people spilled into the parking lot, where a gunman jumped out from behind a parked car and fired several shots. Police said they do not know who the gunman is or why he started shooting. He said one shot hit a girl and another hit a boy, a friend of the 17-year-old, who jumped into the youth's car during the shooting.

Fagan said the youth drove through the parking lot, found the bouncer who kicked him out, and got out of the car and flashed a gun. He said that no shots were fired and that the youth and two others drove away.

A short distance away, Fagan said, police arrested the 17-year-old and charged him with unlawful use of a weapon, aggravated assault and mob action. He said that the youth was not the shooter but that police have a few suspects.

MAN CHARGED WITH SHOOTING COP

WHITTIER, Calif., An alleged gang member has pleaded not guilty to a shooting that left a Maywood reserve police officer paralyzed and his 15-year-old son wounded.

Los Angeles County prosecutors say 23-year-old Ismael Michael Medina of Rosemead entered his plea today after being charged with two counts of attempted murder for allegedly confronting and shooting Richard Elizondo Sr. and Richard Elizondo Jr. as they pulled into the garage of their Pico Rivera home on Jan. 15.

The senior Elizondo was paralyzed from the neck down as a result of the shooting. His son is recovering from a bullet wound to the chest, which grazed his lung and spine.

The motive for the attack was not immediately known.

Prosecutors say Medina faces a possible life sentence if he is convicted of the charges under California's new laws governing the wounding of police officers.

Prosecutors said Medina was arrested on an unrelated charge on Jan. 20. Sheriff's detectives were eventually led to the defendant and presented the evidence to prosecutors today.

January 30, 1998

On Thursday, 2 1/2 weeks after Harris was found dead in his Wells apartment, Chicago police announced they had charged four men, two of them teenagers themselves, with Harris' murder. Authorities said the Jan. 12 slaying was a home invasion that went awry, and Harris was a victim of chance because he had stayed home sick that day from school.

"He was in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Wentworth Area Cmdr. Douglas Bolling.

The men, according to authorities, were members of the Gangster Disciples street gang and had heard that Harris' family kept a large sum of money in the apartment. That Harris was home from school, Bolling said, was an unfortunate coincidence.

He was stabbed more than 30 times in the head and the neck, then shot twice in the back of the head. Harris' body was found by his mother.

Prosecutors said during a bond hearing that Lewis had several arrests as a juvenile for battery, theft, retail theft and criminal trespass to a vehicle. White has similar juvenile arrests for battery, theft and several for possession of a controlled substance. He was convicted in January 1995 for delivery of narcotics, went to boot camp and was released in June 1995, according to the prosecutors. Gibbs was on probation for a conviction for possession of a controlled substance.

February 5, 1998

"Shoot them."

With those words, Matthew Sopron, the alleged leader of the Almighty Popes street gang, sealed the fate of two 13-year-old girls who were slain in a volley of gunfire intended for rival gang members on Dec. 14, 1995, a former Popes gang member testified Wednesday in Criminal Court.

Brian O'Shea, 23, testifying in the murder trial of Sopron and Wayne Antusas, said he was with the two defendants when Sopron gave the order.

Within hours, shots were fired on a van parked near Hale School. The intended targets, two teenage males who allegedly belonged to the Ridgeway Lords, a rival gang, were not hit. But their companions in the van, Carrie Hovel and Helena Martin, both 8th graders at the school, died of gunshot wounds to the head.

The four young men from Minnesota had made a weekend road trip to Chicago to see a car show.

After dinner Sunday night, they headed home on the Kennedy Expressway in a 1987 Buick Park Avenue, speeding past a dark red Ford Expedition in the fast lane.

But their trip ended before they even reached the city limits. It was around 11:15 p.m. near the Fullerton Avenue exit when someone in the Ford fired a gun into the Buick, critically injuring one of the back-seat passengers.

The victim, Christopher Kujawa, 18, of St. Paul, remained in critical condition at Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago. The others were not injured.

The young men told police that before the shooting, someone in the Ford flashed gang signs at them. The men who were shot at are not gang members.

Gang Ties Alleged In Teen Slaying

CHICAGO, Feb. 4 (UPI) _ A 12-year-old boy charged with killing two teens may have been trying to gain acceptance with a street gang in his South Side neighborhood.

Witnesses told police the boy allegedly said he just ``wanted to shoot somebody'' before firing a chrome-plated .38-caliber revolver.

The chubby-faced youth, who turns 13 on Feb. 13, appeared in juvenile court Tuesday sporting a blond crew cut and black jacket. He is accused of gunning down 14-year-old Delvan Harris and 15-year-old Robert Owens Monday evening outside a church in the city's Back of the Yards neighborhood.

Thirteen is the minimum age juveniles can be tried as adults in Illinois.

The boy was apparently infatuated with a local street gang. He was suspended from school for drawing gang graffiti, had a tattoo of a halo on his left hand and was sporting the gang's colors.

The victims were not believed to be members of any gang.

School officials say they had seen signs that the boy was headed for trouble. He had racked up almost five weeks of suspension this school year and was under suspension at the time of the shooting.

Three unrelated murders that took place in Chicago Wednesday night share two common threads: Each victim was shot and police have few clues.

The first victim, Brandon Spence, 23, was standing with friends on the sidewalk at 2154 W. Warren Blvd. on the West Side, when a man opened fire on the group. Spence was shot in the back, Schojnacki said. A friend, Jesse Scott, 21, was shot in the foot.

The gunman, described as between 17 and 20 years old and wearing dark clothing, apparently had been talking with Spence before the murder, but a motive was unknown. Detectives suspect the shooting may have been gang-related.

Spence, of West Warren Boulevard, was pronounced dead at Cook County Hospital Thursday. Scott was treated for minor injuries at County Hospital and released.

The second shooting occurred at 10:35 p.m., when a man opened fire on Chris Clark, 20, who was sitting in his car at 12327 S. Normal Ave. on the Far South Side. Clark, of South Stewart Avenue, died shortly afterward at Roseland Community Hospital.

A third man was found dead on another South Side street about an hour later. Police discovered Bryant Jerome Clark, 19, lying on the ground at 6911 S. Paulina St. at 11:26 p.m.. Clark, of South Normal Avenue, who is unrelated to Chris Clark, died of multiple gunshots to the head.

As of Thursday, the police department's crime analysis unit reported 43 murders in Chicago in January, Detective James Timmel said. There were 61 murders last January, he said.

(CHICAGO) _ Four men are charged in the slaying of a 15-year-old honor roll student killed earlier this month in a Chicago housing project. Police say the four men are believed to be gang members. Barrett Harris was found shot and stabbed to death in his family's Ida B. Wells apartment.

January 28, 1998

ELGIN -- The man lives in Elgin, but dozens of weapons he has bought legally over the last several years have been quietly scattered throughout the Chicago area, almost always in the hands of gang members.

Police in Chicago retrieved five guns he was suspected of selling, according to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Other weapons have surfaced in Elgin, Aurora, Palatine, Carpentersville and as far south as University Park. Almost all were found in the hands of gang members.

Elgin, like many urban communities, has a black market for guns, according to police. Recent gang violence has brought the issue to the forefront.

After just seven shootings in the first seven months last year, the year-end total climbed to 56, though there were no fatalities. A war between two gangs sent the numbers soaring, according to Sgt. Brad Entler.

HIGHWOOD -- An 18-year-old Highwood man has been charged with aggravated battery with a firearm after he was accused of shooting a man with whom he was quarreling.

Granados is accused of quarreling with a 38-year-old Northfield man and then firing two shots at him, striking him in the chest.

Police said they do not know what the men were quarreling about. Police said Granados is an admitted member of a Chicago street gang, and the shooting victim is a former gang member.

Scheller said the charge against Granados, which carries a possible prison sentence of 6 to 30 years, could be upgraded before a preliminary hearing is held Thursday at Lake County Circuit Court in Waukegan.

January 26, 1998

A bar fight in Chicago's River North neighborhood spilled outside early Sunday, resulting in a fatal shooting in front of twoart galleries in the 700 block of North Wells Street.

Robert Cordova, 21, was killed about 4 a.m. Sunday in front of the galleries. A spokesman for the Cook County medical examiner's office said the Chicago man bled to death after being shot in the arm.

Police were seeking suspects in the shooting but had made no arrests as of Sunday evening, Sappanos said. Police believe the slaying was gang-related, Sappanos said.

A Kane County judge on Wednesday found an Aurora teenager guilty of first-degree murder in the 1995 shooting death of a man mistaken for a rival gang member. Roman, who had no gang involvement, was shot once in the head with a .357 Magnum.

Witnesses testified that Mathieu, who was 15 years old at the time, drove that afternoon with Gonzalez, Rivera and Kunkel to the quiet neighborhood to kill a high-ranking member of a rival gang, who they believed lived on the street.

Gonzalez was sentenced to 26 years in prison after pleading guilty in September 1996, to being involved in the murder.