Category: Violence

Are You One Of The Idiots Who Shot 16 — Including Two Fatally — In Span Of About Two Hours?

April 2, 2010
ChicagoChicagolandViolence
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From the Sun-Times:

At least 16 people were shot — including two men who died and six people who were wounded in one chaotic Englewood incident — in a span of about two hours late Thursday into early Friday.

The first shooting occurred at 10:54 p.m. at 7900 S. Anthony Ave. In that incident, a 28-year-old man was shot in the leg, according to a South Chicago District police officer. The victim did not suffer life-threatening injuries.

At 11:15 p.m. officers responding to a call of a person shot and found a 30-year-old man shot in the 6400 block of South Paulina Street, according to police. Brian Moore of 720 E. 70th St. was pronounced dead at 1:38 a.m. at Mount Sinai Hospital Hospital, according to a spokeswoman for the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.

At 11:50 p.m. a 21-year-old man was standing with a group in a parking lot at 7859 S. Cornell Ave. when a man and a woman approached. Someone in the group made an offensive comment to the woman and her companion shot the 21-year-old, who was struck once in the buttocks and taken to Jackson Park Hospital in “stable” condition, the South Chicago District officer said.

In the Bronzeville neighborhood about 12:15 a.m. ,a man identified by the medical examiner’s office as Jermaine Streeter, 27, was fatally shot. Streeter, of 3812 S. Michigan Ave., was pronounced dead at 1:04 a.m. at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County.

In the Loop, a woman told police she was sitting in Millennium Park near 201 E. Randolph St. about 12:30 a.m. when two males she did not know approached, according to a police report.

So it goes.

What a country, eh?

Vatican Failed to Defrock Priest Who Molested As Many As 200 Deaf Boys (Video)

March 24, 2010
ReligionViolence
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Somehow this sounds more horrible knowing that these kids were deaf.

From the New York Times:

Top Vatican officials — including the future Pope Benedict XVI — did not defrock a priest who molested as many as 200 deaf boys, even though several American bishops repeatedly warned them that failure to act on the matter could embarrass the church, according to church files newly unearthed as part of a lawsuit.

The internal correspondence from bishops in Wisconsin directly to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future pope, shows that while church officials tussled over whether the priest should be dismissed, their highest priority was protecting the church from scandal.

The documents emerge as Pope Benedict is facing other accusations that he and direct subordinates often did not alert civilian authorities or discipline priests involved in sexual abuse when he served as an archbishop in Germany and as the Vatican’s chief doctrinal enforcer.

The Wisconsin case involved an American priest, the Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy, who worked at a renowned school for deaf children from 1950 to 1974. But it is only one of thousands of cases forwarded over decades by bishops to the Vatican office called the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, led from 1981 to 2005 by Cardinal Ratzinger. It is still the office that decides whether accused priests should be given full canonical trials and defrocked.

In 1996, Cardinal Ratzinger failed to respond to two letters about the case from Rembert G. Weakland, Milwaukee’s archbishop at the time. After eight months, the second in command at the doctrinal office, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, now the Vatican’s secretary of state, instructed the Wisconsin bishops to begin a secret canonical trial that could lead to Father Murphy’s dismissal.

But Cardinal Bertone halted the process after Father Murphy personally wrote to Cardinal Ratzinger protesting that he should not be put on trial because he had already repented and was in poor health and that the case was beyond the church’s own statute of limitations.

“I simply want to live out the time that I have left in the dignity of my priesthood,” Father Murphy wrote near the end of his life to Cardinal Ratzinger. “I ask your kind assistance in this matter.” The files contain no response from Cardinal Ratzinger.

The best summary comes from the Daily Show’s Jon Stewart, "The Catholic Church punishes Patrick Kennedy for being pro-choice, but takes 20 years to suspend a pedophile priest."

And so I give you Jon Stewart, above, who lays it all on the line for us. Holy sh*t indeed.

Chicago’s Bloody Thursday: 15 People Shot In Six Hours

March 19, 2010
ChicagoChicagolandgun controlLegalViolence
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From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Fifteen people were shot — including one man who died — all over the city Thursday night in just under six hours.

At 5:30 p.m. a 16-year-old boy was shot in the arm on the North Side in the 5000 block of North Kenmore Avenue, according to police News Affairs Officer Veejay Zala.

The boy did not suffer life threatening injuries and was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, Zala said.

At 6:37 p.m. a 19-year-old man playing basketball in Cole Park, 8500 S. King Dr., was shot after trying to break up a fight. He was taken to Jackson Park Hospital in good condition, police said.

A 21-year-old man was shot in the mid-section at 6:48 p.m. in the 4500 block of West Altgeld Street, according to Zala.

At 7:15 p.m. four men were shot in the 7700 block of South Loomis Boulevard, according to Zala.

Fire Media Affairs Director Larry Langford said one 31-year-old man was taken in critical condition to John H. Stroger Hospital of Cook County, one 19-year-old was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood in an unidentified condition and a 24-year-old suffered a graze wound and was taken to Stroger.

A fourth man was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn with a gunshot wound to the leg, Langford said.

What the hell are we doing to each other? What kind of world are we leaving to our children? This is not about them shooting those people. This is about us and the world in which we have decided we wish to live.

What the hell are we doing with the time we’ve been given?

Coward Shoots 7-Year-Old Desiree Sanders on Chicago’s South Side (Video)

March 17, 2010
ChicagoChicagolandCook Countygun controlIllinoisViolence
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This is as sad as sad gets.

From ABC 7 News Chicago:

A 7-year-old girl is in critical condition after being shot on the city’s South Side.

It happened on the southeast corner of the intersection of 80th and Manistee.

Desiree Sanders was out playing on the sidewalk outside of her home when she was shot.

Police were combing the area Wednesday evening for evidence and trying to talk to any witnesses in the neighborhood.

She was not the intended target, police say.

Seven years old.

Disturbing Video: Metra Releases Footage of Woman, Godchild Killed By Train

March 17, 2010
ChicagoChicagolandCook CountyViolence
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Just yesterday, I was driving through Park Forest, stopped at the tracks on Western Avenue. The train was moving very, very slowly.

A boy around 11 or 12 walked north to the train, jumped up on a step of one of the cars, climbed between the moving cars, and jumped down the other side. I dialed 911 as soon as I saw him jump on to the train. By the time the call went through, he was safe on the other side of the tracks. I just had visions of this little one slipping just a bit, and that would be it for him.

The above video is chilling. The scoop from the Sun-Times:

Metra has released a chilling video showing a 1-year-old child and her godmother getting hit — and killed — by a train.

The commuter rail service decided to release the video, taken from the front cab of the train, to highlight the danger of crossing the track when a train is approaching,  Metra spokeswoman Judy Pardonnet said today.

“Seeing this video is very bone-chilling,” said Pardonnet. “It’s very startling, but it also reminds us that there are only a few seconds to get across the track when the train is coming. It’s literally a matter of life and death, sadly.”

Killed Saturday were Blanca Villanueva-Sanchez, 34, and Maria Cruz, 1, both of North Chicago.

Remember, the train will win.

I’m praying for Blanca and poor Maria.

PA State Police Arrest 44 on Internet Child Porn Charges

March 12, 2010
Violence
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From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

The arrest of a North-Central Pennsylvania man on internet child pornography charges spurred dozens of more arrests from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, state police said.

Half of the 44 men arrested since the investigation began three months ago are from Western Pennsylvania counties or connected to cases on this side of the state.

Two agencies, the Internet Crimes Against Children task force and the State Police Computer Crime Task Force, began investigating after an agent detected Ronald Paul Bellows of Richmond, Tioga County, was online sharing child pornography with other men.

Armed with a search warrant at Mr. Bellows’ residence, state police arrested him on 15 child pornography counts.

More here.

Two Illinois Boys Abducted; Amber Alert Issued

March 9, 2010
ChicagoChicagolandIllinoisViolence
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From the Chicago Tribune:

Decatur police have issued an Amber Alert after two young boys, one of them a 1-month-old infant, who were abducted this afternoon.

Authorities said that J-Amarcus Upchurch and Terry Antonio Smith were taken by two men in the 1900 block of East Cantrell Street at about 3:30 p.m.

They were last seen in a silver passenger car with the partial Missouri license plate U D G, turning on to a side road off Cantrell Street.

J-Amarcus is described as a 1-month-old African-American boy, wearing a blue one-piece jumpsuit, weighing 8 pounds with black hair and brown eyes.

Terry is a 4-year-old African-American boy about 3-foot-6, 60 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a blue T-shirt and blue jeans.

Coward Shoots 22-Year-Old Man Dead in Washington Park

March 7, 2010
ChicagoChicagolandgun controlViolence
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From the Chicago Tribune:

A 22-year-old man was found shot in the face and unresponsive this morning on Chicago’s South Side.

Jovan Kelly, of the 8600 block of South Paxton Avenue, was pronounced dead this morning, according to a spokeswoman for the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Police are investigating, according to the Trib.

Any fool can shoot a gun. Put away your guns and talk to each other. That’s a skill worth developing.

Coward Shoots 2 on West Side

March 7, 2010
ChicagoChicagolandgun controlViolence
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From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Bystanders flagged down a CTA bus for help after a man and a woman were critically shot on the West Side Saturday night.

Both victims, in their mid-20s, were taken from Cermak Road and Rockwell Street to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition at about 7:35 p.m. Saturday night, Fire Media Affairs spokesman Quention Curtis said.

The driver of an eastbound #21 Cermak bus called for help to assist a single person who had been shot, and no shots were fired on the bus, said CTA spokesperson Sheila Gregory.

After the bus pulled over, the male victim, who was not a passenger when he was shot, then got onto the bus, said police News Affairs Officer Daniel O’Brien.

Two pools of blood were seen splattered onto the steps inside the entrance area of the bus, which was still parked at the intersection of Cermak Road and Rockwell Street as of 9 p.m. No blood was seen on the seats inside the bus.

A woman also suffered a side graze wound to the chest, said police at the scene of the shooting.

Two pools of human blood, an image no one should have to see in our society.

Any fool can shoot a gun. Put away your guns and talk to each other. That’s a skill worth developing.

Coward Shoots 8 Teen Boys Outside Gary Skating Rink

March 7, 2010
Chicagolandgun controlViolence
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From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Authorities say eight teenage boys were shot while leaving a Gary, Ind., skating rink where they were attending a concert.

Police Cpl. Gabrielle King says "chaos broke loose" when a fight erupted Friday night event at World of Skates. Police say the shooting started in the parking lot.

The victims were taken to three area hospitals, where some remained Saturday. Police say they ranged in age from 14 to 18, with wounds in the legs, wrist, stomach or back. King said injuries weren’t believed to be life-threatening.

Any fool can shoot a gun. Put away your guns and talk to each other. That’s a skill worth developing.