Tag: Chicago
Kanye West donates $150,000 for security guard killed by officer in suburban Chicago
Rapper Kanye West donated $150,000 to a memorial fundraising site for a security guard shot by an officer near his hometown Chicago.
How he was killed
Outrage following the killing
Article via CNN
Chicago Nonprofit Hosts Safe Space For Black Girls To ‘Unapologetically Exist’ At The Site Of Rekia Boyd’s Death
Article via: Chicago Nonprofit Hosts Safe Space For Black Girls To ‘Unapologetically Exist’ At The Site Of Rekia Boyd’s Death
Chicago’s “The Visibility Project: Black Girls Takeover Douglas Park,” hosted by A Long Walk Home, a nonprofit dedicated to ending violence against girls and women, was created to be a safe space where black girls could be their full selves.
If Douglas Park sounds familiar to you, it is likely because it is the very same place Rekia Boyd was shot and killed by off-duty police officer Dante Servin in March 2012.
“Douglas Park is a place where kids are supposed to play, and people are supposed to barbecue and have fun,” 15-year-old Amaya Sam told the Chicago Tribune. “It’s not supposed to be a place where the energy is just sad. I feel like what we’re doing is taking it back.”
During the free event on Thursday, July 26, black girls got to enjoy the soft croons of Jamila Woods, double dutch, pick up treats from an ice cream truck, color coloring books and more.
“You never really see a space where black girls can unapologetically, like, exist,” said 17-year-old Aliya Young, according to Teen Vogue. “So to be able to be in a space where so many of us are able to exist — and that is powerful and radical by itself — and the fact that we’re claiming this space for Rekia [Boyd] and the missing and murdered black girls, it’s nice to not just hear all those stories and be triggered all the time, but to just celebrate our reclamation.”
Now, check these out:
How This 22-Year-Old Is Sketching A Space For Black Girl Animators And Making History While Doing It
How Assata’s Daughters Is Helping Chicago Bloom By Empowering Black Urban Farmers
New Documentary Tells The Stories Of Black Women Killed By Police In Chicago
5-Year-Old Chicago Boy Shot for Second Time in Less Than 2 Years
A 5-year-old boy who was shot in the face during a drive-by shooting last year accidentally shot himself in the hand on Tuesday, according to Chicago police.
Police say the latest shooting happened about 6:20 p.m. Tuesday at a home in the city’s South Side, according to WGN.
Investigators are trying to determine how Kavan Collins got the handgun and accidentally shot himself in the hand. They are questioning a man who was in the home at the time of the shooting.
Kavan was taken to Comer Hospital and is in good condition.
In June 2016, the then-4-year-old Kavan was shot in the jaw while walking with his mother and others.
A bullet fired from a vehicle struck him in the face and another shattered a window and pierced a wall before it struck a 28-year-old woman.
The Chicago Tribune reports that police said neither the boy nor the woman was the intended target.
via: http://ktla.com/2017/12/21/five-year-old-chicago-boy-shot-for-second-time-in-less-than-two-years/
Chicago Day Care Worker Accused of Using Hot Glue Gun to Burn 5 Toddlers
A Chicago day care worker has been charged after allegedly burning five toddlers with a hot glue gun.
Police arrested 32-year-old Lizandra Cosme at her home in Humboldt Park Sunday afternoon, according to KTLA sister station WGN in Chicago.
She faces five felony counts of aggravated battery to a child after the alleged Dec. 1 incident at Children’s Learning Place, located in the Logan Square area.
Investigators say the children involved, two boys and three girls, are all 2 years old. The extent of any injuries is not yet known.
A second worker faces misdemeanor charges for not stopping the abuse, authorities say.
Children’s learning place spokeswoman Lissa Druss Christman emailed this statement to WBBM:
“The well being of our students is paramount. Upon learning of the alleged incident, we notified DCFS immediately and terminated two of our employees. We are currently working with investigators.”
via: http://ktla.com/2017/12/18/day-care-worker-accused-of-burning-5-toddlers-with-hot-glue-gun/
Mom who took son’s dead body onto train charged with murder
CHICAGO — An Illinois woman accused of taking her 6-year-old onto a commuter train to Chicago after his death last summer has been charged with first-degree murder and ordered held without bond, authorities said Tuesday.
Jamie Jones, 29, of Round Lake Beach also was charged with concealment of a homicide in the death of Carl Rice Jr. She’s being held in lieu of $3 million.
Assistant State’s Attorney Steve Scheller told a Lake County judge that an autopsy showed the child was bruised from his face and head to his torso. He also suffered a brain hemorrhage.
“This was a horrific crime involving the death of an innocent child who was beaten to death at the hands of his own mother,” he said.
Scheller said Carl was injured by Jones prior to falling asleep on June 30. He said the boy died between June 30 and July 1.
Scheller said video show Jones, accompanied by her 9-year-old daughter, took the child to the Round Lake Beach Metra station on July 1 to catch a train to Chicago. The child was placed inside the station in a corner seat and was propped up with the help of a backpack.
Jones allegedly carried the dead boy onto a train and video taken at Chicago’s Union Station shows Jones carrying the child over her shoulder as if he is asleep, before getting into a vehicle driven by her father.
Family members became aware the boy was not breathing and called paramedics, who determined he had died. The Cook County medical examiner ruled the boy died from injuries caused by child abuse, Scheller said.
Jones initially told investigators she hit her son several times before his death, prosecutors said. After a four-month investigation, Jones was arrested Saturday on a warrant for failure to appear in court, and then held until murder charges were filed.
Defense attorney Charis Walker declined to comment after Jones’ court appearance Tuesday.
via: http://nypost.com/2017/11/07/mom-who-took-sons-dead-body-onto-train-charged-with-murder/
Masseuse put hand inside clients’s genitals because she’s attractive, prosecutor says
A masseuse at a Loop spa let his fingers go where they should not have because he thought his client was “physically attractive,” Cook County prosecutors said Wednesday.
Anthony Winters, 39, allegedly groped a 28-year-old woman during a massage appointment at Therapy For EveryBody, 111 W. Jackson, in February.
The woman “reacted in shock,” Assistant State’s Attorney Kathryn Roy said at a bond hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse.
Winters apologized and told her that “he placed his hand in her vagina because he thought she was physically attractive,” Roy said.
Winters left the room, and the woman dressed. When she opened the door, Winters was waiting for her and escorted her out of the spa, Roy said. The woman called her sister, then reported the incident to police.
Winters was arrested on Tuesday.
Judge John Fitzgerald Lyke Jr. set Winters’ bail at $10,000, and declined Assistant State’s Attorney Guy Lisuzzo’s request to bar Winters from working as a masseuse if he was able to post bond.
Lyke warned Winters: “You know not to engage in (any) criminal activity as you’re working? You understand that, right?”
As of Wednesday afternoon, the spa’s website listed Winters as operations manager. State records indicate his massage therapist license was still in good standing.
No one answered the number for the spa Wednesday afternoon.
via: http://abc7chicago.com/masseuse-attacked-client-because-shes-attractive-prosecutor-says/2570698/
Chicago Woman Found Dead in Gym Bathroom Stall 2 Days After Entering
A 78-year-old woman was found dead inside a health club near Chicago two days after she was last seen arriving at the facility back in July, police said on Wednesday.
Patricia Austin’s body was found in a restroom at the Life Time Fitness facility in Burr Ridge, a suburb of Chicago, according to KTLA sister station WGN.
Austin was last seen entering the club on July 12 and was never seen leaving. Her car was still in the parking lot two days later, when her body was found.
Another woman who used the bathroom while at the gym on July 14 noticed feet under one of the stalls, police told the Chicago Tribune.
The feet were still there after the woman returned from her workout and she alerted workers. An employee then crawled under the stall after knocking and discovered the body, according to the newspaper. Police and paramedics arrived and Austin was declared dead at the scene.
An autopsy showed she died from cardiovascular disease, according to WGN.
A spokesman for Life Time Fitness, Jason Thunstrom, released a statement on Wednesday:
“We are terribly saddened by this tragedy and continue to have our heartfelt thoughts and prayers with the family. As a large facility with several thousand members visiting daily, it is not uncommon for bathroom stalls to be occupied as staff conducts their cleaning protocol. Out of respect for members, cleaning staff do not disturb individuals in occupied stalls. Moreover, cleaning staff rotates throughout the course of the day with responsibility for cleaning varying as shift changes occur. Finally, during the club’s brief closure period each day, it is not uncommon for members to be completing their workouts and using bathroom facilities before departing, or for our staff members to be using the same bathroom facilities.”
The family’s attorney, Mark Novak, told ABC Chicago the final autopsy report has not been issued and questions remain about whether Austin could have been saved if she was found earlier.
Novak also wants to know why no one noticed the woman in the bathroom. The health club closes between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. and that is when bathrooms are cleaned, according to Novak.
“Two straight days with that woman remaining in that stall is inconceivable to me,” said Novak. “When you lock up the front door and you see a member’s car sitting right by the entrance, I would think that it would occur to me that hey, we missed somebody, let’s go back in, somebody is still in the club.”
Chicago Area Man Credits Cellphone App for Helping Him Lose 500 pounds
A 45-year-old man once-confined to his suburban Chicago-area home for years said he lost 500 pounds with the help of a cellphone app.
In 2011, Rafael Zuniga weighed over 800 pounds. His weight was a lifelong battle that spiraled out of control, KTLA sister station WGN-TV reported.
Over the past six years, he has lost 500 pounds. While he did the work alone, Zuniga said that ultimately, it was an app that got him on the path to living again.
Stress from work as a real estate adjuster and a bad break up left him at an all-time high of 831 pounds. Alcohol and fast food were his best friends.
“I’m always thinking I’ve got to lose a couple hundred pounds and I’ll be back in the mix,” he says. “But it wasn’t a couple hundred pounds. My weight doubled. I was in shock. As stupid as it sounds, I was in shock.”
Rock bottom
“When I was unable to keep cleaning myself, I guess that was my rock bottom,” he told WGN.
In July 2011, he was taken to the hospital and labeled morbidly obese. He was fighting lymphdema, hypertension, and cellulitis among other things.
It was a turning point for Zuniga.
“It was a beautiful day out and I had seen everybody. Life was passing me by,” he said.
That is when Zuniga decided to change his path of physical and financial ruin to one of wellness. After researching weight loss, he discovered the app “LoseIt!”
Zuniga’s goal was to weigh 250 pounds and travel the world.
“The image of me just being by an ocean, man, that helped me out tremendously,” he says.
How the weight loss app changed his life
Zuniga uses the app to count his calories, track his meals, and seek support from other users trying to lose weight. The app taught him to eat smarter, he said.
But he also started exercising. At first, it meant the smallest of movements.
“I was sitting at the edge of my bed doing sit ups. I refused to believe that I was disabled,” he says.
Zuniga now does cardio five times a week and lifts weights two to four times a week. He eats a high-protein diet, cuts out the carbs, and counts every calorie he eats.
And he has not had any surgical procedure to lose the weight. There is no more alcohol and he does take a prescribed appetite suppressant.
The real motivator? A vacation
In 2014, Zuniga’s dream came true. Labeling himself as “skinny for him” — he was down to 400 pounds — his father booked him a business class seat to the Dominican Republic.
Over the past three years, Zuniga has shed another 100 pounds bringing his overall weight loss in excess of 500 pounds.
He told the station he’d like to lose another 50 and get his doctors more comfortable with the idea of double knee replacements for his severe osteoarthritis. Removing his excess skin might get him close, but insurance doesn’t cover the procedure.
Zuniga is just the beginning of the rest of his life. Clean living with the help of an app is opening a whole new world for him, he said.
via: http://ktla.com/2017/03/31/man-says-app-helped-him-lose-500-pounds/
MAN CHARGED AFTER MARIJUANA, GUN FOUND IN STROLLER WITH CHILD INSIDE
A man has been charged after Chicago police said he was pushing a baby stroller stuffed with marijuana and a handgun while a child was inside on Friday.
Police arrested Anthony Kennedy, 32, in the 100-block of North Leclaire in the Austin neighborhood at about 3:18 p.m., police said.
After he was taken into custody, police said they discovered Kennedy was wanted for a domestic battery incident, multiple violations of an order of protection and two incidents of criminal damage to property.
The baby was placed in the care of a relative. Kennedy’s charges include possession of a handgun and marijuana and child endangerment.
Chicago Woman Accused of Killing Boyfriend by Pouring Bleach Down His Throat
A 24-year-old Chicago woman was charged with killing her boyfriend by forcing him to drink bleach.
Chicago police say Yasmine Elder, 24, got into a fight with Darrius Ellis, 26, while sitting in a van early Monday morning, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Investigators believe that around 1:45 a.m. Elder wrestled with Ellis and forced him to lie on his back, then poured bleach on him, some of which went down his throat.
During a court hearing Thursday, prosecutors said Elder laughed when she was confronted by a witness after the incident and informed the victim might die, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Ellis was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Autopsy results showed that Ellis died of “complications from forcible administration of a caustic substance,” according the Chicago Tribune. Ellis’ death was found to be a homicide.
“He was a good kid,” Ellis’ grandfather, Clarence Hebron, told the paper. “Everybody loved him.”
Relatives said Ellis was the father of a 5-year-old son.
Elder has been charged with first degree murder and was being held on $1 million bail.