3 Dead, 11 Wounded In Shootings, Stabbings Since Friday Night
CHICAGO (STMW) -- Chrystal Kyles stood in the cold in the middle of East 51st Street on Sunday night and tried to comfort her grieving family as they grappled with the news that Chicago's ongoing gun violence had finally touched their home.
She told the Chicago Sun-Times that the city's latest victim, shot to death on the South Side, was her only brother, 28-year-old Christopher Thomas. Kyles said he was the father of a young girl.
By day's end, Thomas' family would be joined in grief by two other families who also received word their loved ones had been gunned down in violence across the city. Since the start of the weekend, at least 11 others have been wounded in the violence, police said.
Thomas was a musician, Kyles told the Sun-Times, who had been on his way to a studio to record a song when police say he was fatally shot about 5:10 p.m. near 51st and Indiana in the Washington Park neighborhood.
That's where Kyles stood making phone calls through tears and where a woman identified as Thomas' mother fell to the ground, wailing as she kicked her feet in despair. His family insisted Thomas wasn't involved with gangs.
"You never think the violence will hit directly at your home," Kyles told the Sun-Times.
Chicago Police said they were questioning two suspects about the shooting Sunday night.
Police officers got to the scene of the shooting just in time to see two suspects take off in a car, police News Affairs Officer Daniel O'Brien said. It was unclear whether police officers witnessed the shooting or were nearby when shots were fired, he said.
The officers followed the car onto the Dan Ryan Expressway, where the car crashed, police said.
Officers arrested the two men near 43rd Street and Indiana, police said, citing early reports.
Later, the day's third homicide would be added to the tally when a man was killed and two others were wounded in a shooting on the Northwest Side.
About 10:10 p.m., the three men were in a beige Toyota Corolla in the 3300 block of North Keeler Avenue when an unknown gunman approached and opened fire, police said.
A friend drove the victims to nearby Norwegian American Hospital, but the men were transferred to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County for further treatment.
One of the men -- identified as 19-year-old Junior Estudillo -- was shot multiple times and was pronounced dead at Stroger just after midnight, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office. The other two men, ages 19 and 25, were listed in "stable" condition.
Earlier Sunday the first homicide was registered when a 19-year-old man was found shot to death in an alley in the South Roseland neighborhood.
Devante Watts was found with a gunshot wound to the head about 11:30 am. Sunday in the 500 block of East 109th Street, police said. No one is in custody.
Among the 11 people injured during the holiday weekend was a 40-year-old pizza deliveryman, stabbed five times during an apparent robbery, police said. The attack happened as the man made a delivery in the 8500 block of South Green Bay Avenue in the South Chicago neighborhood about 8 p.m. on Friday, police said.
The man made a call to a customer as he arrived at a home, police said, and was shortly after stabbed in a gangway by someone who took the man's cash and food. The deliveryman was listed in serious condition at South Shore Hospital, police said.
Two teenage boys were also wounded in separate attacks this weekend.
A 16-year-old boy was shot in the neck while he rode in a car Friday night in the 200 block of East 51st Street, police said, adding that the boy was listed in serious condition at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County.
Another 16-year-old boy was in the wrong place at the wrong time, police say, when was shot in the leg during an apparent drive-by shooting on the Southwest Side early Sunday. Police do not believe the boy was the intended target
The boy had just left a home in the 4700 block of South Karlov Avenue when a dark colored sports-utility vehicle drove by and shots were fired about 3:45 a.m., police said. Police say he was treated and later released from Mount Sinai Hospital.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2012. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
