Two more fatal shootings occurred in Chicago on New Year’s Eve, bringing the city’s murder total for 2013 to 415 people.
Vincent Rogers, a 26-year-old who lived in the 7100 block of South Damen and had a long arrest history, was the city’s last homicide victim of the year. He was gunned down in the Englewood neighborhood Tuesday night and was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.
A 23-year-old witness who saw Rogers’ killer fleeing the scene was shot in the hip, minutes later. He is expected to survive, police said.
But the gunman still wasn’t done shooting and finally escaped only after firing several shots at police as they rushed to the scene, police said.
On New Year’s Day, a large bloodstain — several feet wide — still marked the spot in the snow in front of a fried fish restaurant where Rogers fell.
Rogers’ devastated girlfriend stood crying next to the gruesome scene but was too overcome to talk about her dead lover.
Police think Rogers, who had served time for burglary, was selling marijuana when he was shot, but it’s unclear whether security video footage from a convenience store camera directly above the spot where he was killed will help them identify the gunman.
Earlier Tuesday, Donald Golladay, 67, fatally shot his son, August Golladay, 25, while the two argued inside a home in the 3700 block of South Wells in the Armour Square neighborhood, authorities said.
Cook County prosecutors said August Golladay was threatening to kill himself and went to a closet where his father kept his gun. The father then grabbed the gun and emptied some of the bullets before pointing the gun at his son and firing.
Donald Golladay told authorities he thought all the bullets were out of the gun.
August Golladay was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:19 a.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
The elder Golladay was charged with involuntary manslaughter. A Cook County judge on Wednesday ordered him held on a $250,000 bond.
Despite the two New Year’s Eve killings, the Chicago Police Department said 2013 ended with the fewest murders in Chicago since 1965 and the lowest murder rate since 1966. The 415 killings that the department handled in 2013 marked an 18 percent decrease from the 503 murders that the department reported in 2012.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office recorded a total of 434 homicides within Chicago city limits in 2013. That total includes killings on expressways that weren’t handled by Chicago Police.
Just outside the city, in Berwyn, a 20-year-old man died Tuesday after being found with gunshot wounds in a barbershop. Jose Mendoza, of the 2600 block of South East Avenue in Berwyn, was pronounced dead at Loyola University Medical Center at 10:07 p.m., according to the medical examiner’s office.
"Chicago Police shoot suspects in two incidents at start of 2014" Chicago Sun-Times 1/1/2014
Barely two hours into the New Year, Chicago police shot and wounded at least two people in separate shootings that are among the first to be reported in 2014.
The first shooting happened moments after midnight in the Woodlawn neighborhood after a man allegedly raised a gun toward officers.
Charles Lemle, 28, of the 500 block of East 67th, faces three felony counts of aggravated assault with a firearm of a police officer and one felony count of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, according to a release from Chicago Police.
The second occurred just before 2 a.m., when at least one person was shot by police and two others also suffered gunshot wounds in the Fernwood neighborhood.
In the Woodlawn shooting, Area Central Operations Impact officers were patrolling the 500 block of East 67th Street when they heard gunshots, according to a statement from police News Affairs.
Pat Camden — a spokesman for the Fraternal Order of Police, the union that represents most Chicago cops — said Lemle was apparently celebrating the New Year by firing a gun. When police announced themselves, he allegedly pointed a weapon at them, and one of the officers shot him in the leg, Camden said.
Lemle was hospitalized with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound. Camden said that man had been free on home monitoring for a previous conviction for unlawful use of a weapon.
In Fernwood, police had been chasing a person in the 100 block of West 105th Street just before 2 a.m. when officers heard gunshots, according to a written statement from the department.
As some officers approached the front of a home on the block, others continued to the rear and found someone on the porch holding a gun. Police said that person pointed the gun at the officers, and an officer shot that person.
Police said two other people suffered gunshot wounds in the incident, but it’s not clear how they were injured.
Fire Media Affairs spokesman Juan Hernandez said one woman, whose age was not immediately known, was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in critical condition. Two men, ages 25 and 30, were also taken in critical condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, he said.
A witness who said she was a sibling of all three victims told reporters her family was holding a New Year’s Eve party at the home where the shooting happened. She said she didn’t see anyone at the party with a gun.
