Alleged gang member charged in shooting death at Mexican restaurant in Pontoon Beach

alleged gang member on the run has been charged with a fatal shooting Saturday in Pontoon Beach.
Fernando Gallegos-Ochoa, 17, has been charged with the double shooting in the parking lot of La Mexicana Restaurant early Saturday morning. Gallegos-Ochoa is not in custody and his address is not known.
According to the state's attorney's office, Gallegos-Ochoa, who is believed to be a gang member, got into an argument with two men allegedly from a rival gang. The argument ended with gunfire in the parking lot outside the restaurant near I-255 in Pontoon Beach at about 12:47 a.m. Saturday.

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Jesus Flores, 20, of Pontoon Beach was shot once in the head and was pronounced dead later at St. Louis University Hospital. Luis F. Ortiz, 18, of Pontoon Beach was shot three times, but is expected to survive.
While police believe the men are from rival gangs, it is not known if gang membership was the reason for the dispute.
"Violence, whether gang-related or not, will not be tolerated in our communities," said Madison County State's Attorney Tom Gibbons in a news release. "We will work to remove violent criminals from the street, including those who have no right to be here in the first place."
Gibbons said authorities believe Gallegos-Ochoa is in the country illegally.
Flores was born in Torrance, Calif., and had worked at Elite Stuffing in Pontoon Beach, his obituary states. His funeral arrangements are pending.
Gallegos-Ochoa faces two charges of first-degree murder, which is punishable by 20-60 years in prison. He also has been charged with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and aggravated discharge of a firearm, class X and class 1 felonies carrying penalties up to a life sentence.
Flores and Ortiz pleaded guilty last year to aggravated battery in the beating of a teenager who refused to join their gang, CV-155. The teenager ended up with a concussion and a broken jaw. Flores and Ortiz received 30 months' probation and were placed under a restraining order keeping them away from the victim and ordered not to associate with gang members.
U.S. Marshals are assisting police in the search for Gallegos-Ochoa.

 

Suspect in shooting death of Modesto teen turns himself in

The man suspected of shooting a 16-year-old Modesto boy to death Monday afternoon surrendered to the the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department several hours after the crime.
Saul Hernandez, 33, of Ceres, was arrested late Monday night on suspicion of killing Alberto Beraza.
Beraza was gunned down just after 5 p.m. in front of Boomers Car Audio on Crows Landing Road south of Hatch Road.

 

The California Supreme Court yesterday affirmed the death sentence for a Banning man who committed two murders in that city in early 1994.

The court was unanimous in upholding a Riverside Superior Court jury’s verdict that Crandell McKinnon was guilty of two counts of first degree murder and two counts of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.
Justices also upheld the death sentence, 6-1. Dissenting Justice Kathryn M. Werdegar argued for a new penalty trial on the ground that a juror whose questionnaire suggested antipathy toward the death penalty was precipitously excused.
Witnesses said McKinnon walked up to a stranger, Perry Coder Jr., 22, outside the motel where the victim was living with his pregnant fiancée, then shot him twice in the head for no apparent reason.
Second Murder
Six weeks after the Jan. 4 killing, Gregory Martin was shot and killed in another part of Banning. The murder weapon was found in a car McKinnon was riding in, and a cellmate testified that McKinnon admitted both murders.
A police sergeant testified that he had searched the area after the shooting, and found a witness who testified that he witnessed an argument between “Moto”—Martin’s nickname—and “Popeye,” a name with which the sergeant associated McKinnon, that ended with Popeye taking two shots at Moto.
Testimony revealed that Martin had been a member of the Bloods gang, and that McKinnon was a member of the Crips. The defendant’s cellmate, Harold Black, said McKinnon told him the Martin shooting was in retaliation for the shooting of a local Crips gang member by a member of the Bloods years earlier.
The jury found McKinnon guilty on all counts and found true the special circumstance that he had committed multiple murders.
In the penalty phase, the prosecution focused on the nature of the murders and the defendant’s prior crimes. He had been convicted of robbery and of illegal handgun possession, and other evidence linked him to five other criminal episodes, including a robbery of a teacher at a school cafeteria when he was a teenager and the possession of a metal shank while awaiting trial for the murders.
The defense focused on his difficult childhood, including physical and emotional abuse at the hands of his father, and later his stepfather.
Jurors returned a death penalty verdict. Judge Patrick Magers rejected the automatic motion for modification of the verdict and imposed the sentence.
The high court rejected claims of error in the guilt and penalty phases of the trial, including McKinnon’s contention that he should have received separate trials for the murders committed six weeks apart.
Justice Marvin Baxter said any error in joining the two counts would have been harmless.
“Neither murder was especially likely, or more likely than the other, to inflame the jury’s passions,” the justice wrote. “Each killing was cruel and brutal and committed for seemingly trivial reasons.”
Gang Feud
Baxter rejected the contention that the evidence linking the Martin killing to a gang feud may have affected the verdict on the Coder killing, and thus affected the sentence. That evidence, the justice reasoned, “paled in comparison to the evidence of the most prejudicial facet of the Coder murder—its absolute senselessness.”
Baxter also said there was no error in jury selection. The defense argued on appeal that five venire members who had indicated opposition to the death penalty were improperly excused without being given the opportunity to establish that they could put aside those objections and judge the issue impartially.
The attorney general argued that the issue was forfeited because the defense did not make it at trial.
Baxter said the issue was properly before the court because People v. Velasquez (1980) 26 Cal.3d 425 held that no objection is required to preserve the improper disqualification of a potential juror, based on reservations about the death penalty, as an issue on appeal.
The justice agreed that Velasquez was wrongly decided, saying it had “no support in either the United States Supreme Court or California decisional law on which it relies,” and that it was inconsistent with the rule governing other types of juror excusals.
Velasquez, he said, is prospectively overruled, so that in the future, it will be necessary for the defense “to make either a timely objection, or the functional equivalent of an objection  (i.e., statement of opposition or disagreement) to the excusal on specific grounds...in order to preserve the issue for appeal.”
Turning to the merits, Baxter explained that where a juror questionnaire is “replete” with responses indicating steadfast opposition to capital punishment, and there is no other evidence in the record suggesting that the venire member would be willing and able to put those views aside, there is no requirement that the judge directly question the person about the depth of his or her views prior to excusing him or her for cause.
Baxter was joined by Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Justices Ming Chin, Joyce L. Kennard, and Carol Corrigan, and Presiding Court of Appeal Justice Paul A. Turner of this district’s Div. Five, sitting on assignment.
Werdegar argued in dissent that the trial judge abused his discretion by excusing a potential juror, identified only as R.A., solely on the basis of his questionnaire responses.
She explained:
“To be sure, R.A.’s written answers indicated he held strong views against the death penalty.  But he also acknowledged he could follow the law and the court’s instructions, that nothing would prevent him from doing so in this case, and given three choices in question No. 46, declined to indicate he would ‘ALWAYS’ vote for the death penalty irrespective of the evidence or ‘ALWAYS’ vote for a life sentence, but instead chose the third alternative provided by the questionnaire: :  ‘I would consider all of the evidence and the jury instructions as provided by the court and impose the penalty I personally feel is appropriate.’”
Given that response, and the ambiguity of the question whether a person would “always” vote for or against the death penalty, the trial judge should have “questioned R.A. in person, observed his facial expressions and his demeanor, evaluated his vocal inflections and general bearing, and then made a conclusion about the depth of his understanding of his duty as a juror as well as his sincerity,” the justice wrote.
The case is People v. McKinnon, 11 S.O.S. 4612.

Orlando teen watched brother die in drive-by shooting

Jeffrey Lewis tethered a bunch of half-inflated balloons with the green yarn his slain older brother once used to crotchet bags and scarves for friends and family.

He carefully chose a spot for the pink, blue, orange and green balloons and tied them to a treeside memorial marking the spot where 19-year-old Collins Solomon succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds during a Saturday night drive-by shooting at his Orlando apartment complex.

Once they were affixed, the 16-year-old stared forward blankly, pressed his lips together tightly and closed his eyes.

"I never believed something like that would happen to him," Lewis said.


Lewis was walking down a familiar path home with his brother and friend Jha-gil Gray when gunfire erupted about 10:30 p.m. at the Grande Pointe Apartments near Orange Blossom Trail.

Solomon and Gray were on their way to a party and had been cracking jokes moments before someone showed up in a car.

"There wasn't no warning. They just started shooting," said 20-year-old Gray, who was grazed in the head by a bullet and wore a beige bandanna covering the wound. As he attended the memorial site on Sunday, he still wore a hospital bracelet on his left hand.

Jeffrey and Gray took off running at the crack of gunfire, but Solomon was hit, falling in front of an iron fence separating two neighborhoods.

Jeffrey ran home for help, saying his brother was dead. No one believed him until they saw his body sprawled in plain view of all the neighbors.

Family said Solomon had his fair share of troubles with the law, including prior arrests for grand theft, burglary and criminal mischief in Orange County. But they didn't know if he had enemies.

"He walked the streets, but he didn't look for trouble," said brother Anthony Solomon, adding that Collins Solomon had learned to crotchet at an at-risk youth program.

The fun-loving Collins Solomon, who was known as Slider, was seen as a trendsetter who loved to sing and struggled to find a job or return to school. He wanted to be a chef.

Orange County deputies continue to search for the gunman but did not provide any other details regarding suspects or a motive for the violence.

"Everyone you laugh and grin with ain't your friend," said Dorthy Phillips, who curated the monument with a running monologue about the dangers of the street to anyone who stopped by.

Some nodded in agreement. Others added their own commentary, bemoaning the youth violence and advising the young men there to "change your crews and switch your style."

Jeffrey couldn't take it anymore, and tears spilled from his eyes.

"He [Solomon] always told me to stay out of the streets and stay in school," he said. "I know I won't end on this path."

 

Man shot was stepfather of dead parolee

37-year-old man shot to death Sunday night in a drive-by shooting has been identified as the stepfather of 23-year-old David Raya, a parolee who was killed on the same street during an officer-involved shooting last week, police said.
Chris Valeriano of Fullerton was shot while he and others gathered in the 100 block of Guinida Lane about 10 p.m., Anaheim police Sgt. Bob Dunn said
When officers arrived, they found three men had been struck by gunfire, Dunn said.
Valeriano was taken to a trauma center, where he was pronounced dead.
An 18-year-old man from Anaheim was treated for non-life-threatening injuries. The other victim, a 26-year-old man from Anaheim, suffered a graze wound to one of his fingers, and refused further medical treatment.
Details of where the victims were shot are unknown, but police believe the Fullerton man was shot more than once.
Anaheim police Sgt. Rick Martinez said they are investigating the shooting as gang-related.
"Not to say the victim is with a gang," Martinez said, adding that the suspects are believed to be affiliated with a gang.
According to the initial police investigation, a vehicle, with an unknown number of suspects inside, was traveling west on Guinida Lane.
As they were passing by an apartment complex, the suspect or suspects opened fire on a group of people congregated there and then fled the scene, Dunn said.
"Who the suspects are and their motivation for the shootings, we don't know," Dunn said.
Sunday night's shooting took place in the same area where Raya was shot to death by Anaheim police on Aug. 16.
Dunn said that confrontation took place while patrol officers and undercover investigators were in the neighborhood searching for Raya, whom he described as a parolee-at-large who was considered armed and dangerous.

 

HELLS Angels have been linked to an alleged vendetta against the Ibrahim family after a bikie was arrested in connection with drive-by shootings targeting the family.

The bikie was arrested and a house raided this week over attacks on two properties linked to the Ibrahim family, one of which is the home of Sydney nightclub entrepreneur John Ibrahim.

Police raided the house at Wetherill Park about 6.40am on Tuesday and arrested a 21-year-old Hells Angel. They allegedly seized three shotguns, three rifles, ammunition, cocaine and steroids.

The raid followed the drive-by shooting of a home allegedly owned by the Ibrahims at Merrylands on June 30, in which several shots penetrated the property.

The home, located behind the home of Mr Ibrahim's mother Wahiba, was occupied by renters.

A woman aged in her 30s and a seven-year-old boy who were inside were not injured.




About 11.30am the next day, police were called to Mr Ibrahim's clifftop home on George St, Dover Heights, after it was shot at and ammunition casings discovered. It was allegedly the third time shots had been fired at the home. The other incidents were not reported.

Police formed Strike Force Bairestow to investigate the shootings. The Hells Angel was released without charge pending further inquiries.

Kelowna ambush won't go unpunished, experts warn

Gang experts are warning the underworld will not a let a deadly ambush that claimed the life of a B.C. gangster go unpunished.

Suspected gang leader Jonathan Bacon died Sunday afternoon when the SUV he was riding in was attacked in front of a hotel in Kelowna, B.C.

Masked gunmen reportedly fired a volley of bullets into the vehicle, fatally injuring Bacon, but also wounding a full-patch Hells Angel and three other people riding in the SUV.

The 30-year-old Bacon was a suspected gangster whom police had warned the public to avoid.

Police claimed Bacon was one of the leading members of the Red Scorpions, a street gang with an infamous reputation in British Columbia.

Kash Heed, a member of the B.C. legislature and a former West Vancouver police chief, said the Red Scorpions were originally part of another gang called the United Nations.

But they eventually broke off from the UN gang and have since carved out a position for themselves in the illegal drug market.

"They, like other gangs, are involved in drug activity, drug importation, drug trafficking, throughout British Columbia and elsewhere in Canada," Heed told CTV's Canada AM during a telephone interview from Vancouver on Tuesday morning.

Because of Bacon's alleged ties to the Red Scorpions and gang life, police believe that his death was targeted and the public is not at risk. But they do fear the repercussions that his death may still bring.

"Gangs and their associates have a callous disregard for the safety of others when disputes erupt and it potentially places us all at risk," RCMP Supt. Bill McKinnon said in a statement released Monday.

Heed said underworld members will not let the Kelowna ambush go unpunished, especially considering the high-profile nature of its targets.

"These are well-known gangsters who are armed and they will go back and seek retaliation for what has taken place," Heed said.

Street gang expert Michael Chettleburgh said the people who avenge Bacon's death will likely wait for the right time to strike.

"Will it be immediate? Time will tell. I think cooler heads will prevail for now because there's a lot of police attention to the issue," Chettleburgh told CTV's Canada AM during an interview in Toronto on Tuesday morning.

But Chettleburgh said street gangs can't afford to back down when they come under attack.

"You have to answer violence with violence, otherwise your brand identity on the street will be greatly diminished," Chettleburgh said.

Heed said street gang members have the capability to travel to other provinces and across borders, which suggests that payback could come at any time for the people responsible for the Kelowna attack.

"These gang members, they are mobile. They don't stick to one particular area and they're not necessarily going to stick just to the province of British Columbia," said Heed.

 

17 reputed gang members arrested in robbery ring crackdown

Long Beach police and other law enforcement officers swarmed 47 locations Wednesday, arresting 17 people and seizing cash, weapons and drugs as part of an operation targeting street gang members suspected in a string of robberies.

The reputed gang members allegedly were involved in home-invasion robberies, burglaries and thefts in the Long Beach area and Orange County. They were charged with felonies including forgery, fraud, drug possession, possession of stolen property and parole violations, the Long Beach Police Department said. Their names were not released.

The suspects are part of five different Asian street gangs, some of them former rivals, who are "teaming up with the sole purpose of committing lucrative crimes," the Long Beach Police Department said in a statement.

Evidence seized included handguns, methamphetamine, forged checks, personal profiles for alleged identity theft and Rolex and Movado watches, police said.

The four-month investigation involved state parole agents and officers from the Long Beach, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove and Westminster police departments. Deputies from the Orange County and Los Angeles County sheriff's departments also were part of the operation.

 

20-year-old man was shot in the chest early yesterday in West Norwood, south London.

The victim was taken to hospital but died at 5.33am, Scotland Yard said. Three men were arrested in connection with the shooting, and remain in custody. The man's next of kin have been informed. A post-mortem examination was due to take place at 6pm yesterday.

Black Expo shooter is sentenced to 8 years

The teenager accused of shooting nine people during last year's Black Expo Summer Celebration pleaded guilty Wednesday, ending a case that prompted citywide efforts to improve security at the event.

Shamus Patton, 18, was sentenced to eight years in prison, two years in community corrections programs and two years on probation. He admitted to 13 of the 14 charges against him, including battery, aggravated battery and criminal gang activity.

The shootings, which were thought to be gang-related, caught the community's attention in a way other shootings hadn't, said the Rev. Charles Harrison, president of the Ten Point Coalition, a group of ministers that tries to improve relations between police and black youths. People realized that gangs are willing to bring violence out of the neighborhoods and into Downtown, he said.

"I think we have to be vigilant and report what we see," Harrison said. "I think we can no longer be quiet about what's going on."

Patton fired into crowds at two Downtown locations on July 17, 2010, striking nine victims ages 10 to 19. Patton was thought to be a member of the Ratchetz Boyz street gang in the Martindale-Brightwood area, and some of his shots appeared to be directed at rival gang members.

No victims were in court for Patton's sentencing. Deputy Prosecutor Andrea Props played a video of the first round of shootings to show the impact of Patton's actions that night.

The video captured the barrage of bullets, followed by the piercing screams of the panicked crowd.

Before announcing Patton's sentence, Marion Superior Court Judge Carol Orbison called the shootings "absolutely horrendous."

Patton's family declined to comment after the sentencing.

Harrison hopes Patton's sentence will encourage others to keep the peace.

"I think we have to send a strong message to our young people in the community," he said, "that this kind of behavior is not going to be tolerated."

 

Police ID Suspected Driver In Target Parking Lot Fatal Shooting

Watsonville police have identified a man they believe drove the car used in the fatal gang-related shooting of an 18-year-old Prunedale man in the parking lot of a Target store last month.
Police have obtained an arrest warrant for Watsonville resident Miguel Angel Rodriguez, 22, for the shooting death of Gustavo Diaz on the night of July 23 at the Target at 1415 Main St.
Around 6:15 p.m. that day, Diaz and his 25-year-old girlfriend were walking out of the store toward their car when a green Honda Accord drove by them, police said.
The Accord circled the parking lot and approached them again as they reached their car, according to police. The car stopped and a passenger opened fire, hitting the couple, before the driver accelerated away, police said.
Police believe Rodriguez was the driver of the Accord. They have not yet identified a suspected shooter.
Officers found the car abandoned at an apartment complex off of Ohlone Parkway an hour after the shooting.
Diaz died at the scene. His girlfriend was taken to Watsonville Community Hospital for an arm injury and has since been released.
Sgt. Saul Gonzalez, a spokesman for the Police Department, said Diaz was affiliated with a gang.
The shooting is being investigated as gang-related, but it does not appear to be connected to other recent murders in Santa Cruz County, police said.
Rodriguez has a past arrest history and has associations with a Watsonville gang, police said.

 

Chicago and the city of Toronto, Ontario are the same size. In Chicago, about 450 people are murdered every year, most with guns.

Toronto has about 60 murders a year.  One reason is that murder is a big deal in Toronto, and if the number of gun murders there goes about 30--every new murder is big news, front page news.  According to politicians and law enforcement officials there, the media attention keeps the city focused on solving gun violence.  Gun violence in Chicago is so commonplace that when a 21-year-old named Shawn Carter was shot and killed recently, few people took notice.

When Shawn Carter died on May 12, the Chicago Tribune published a short story -- about 120 words -- noting his age, the time and location of the shooting and the block where he lived. The Tribune story, citing a police department spokeswoman, said Carter was talking to two girls, and other men told him to leave her alone, sparking an altercation that ended in the shooting.


The cities of Chicago and Toronto are the same size. Chicago has about 450 murders a year. Toronto? About 60. In the series, Under the Gun: Murder in Chicago and Toronto, WBEZ’s criminal and legal affairs reporter Robert Wildeboer asks: Why?



Murder in Toronto
Justine Lawrence, Carter’s great-grandmother, said she contacted the media, but they wouldn’t change his statement. “I told them that wasn't true; they shoulda talked to me.”

“I wanted the truth to know it was not true what they had did.  Shawn was not arguing with nobody. That guy was looking for somebody to kill.  He was a gang-banger, and he been back over here shooting since then,” she said.

Lawrence adopted her great-grandson Shawn when he was four because Lawrence's granddaughter gave up all three of her children. Lawrence says her granddaughter just didn't want to be bothered with raising them.

Lawrence has been spending a lot of time at the home of her son’s ex-wife. “She looks out for me all the time.  She like a daughter to me,” she said while sitting on the front stoop. “She always come and see about me, and like I fell and hurt myself, she fix me food and do, she's a good person, she helps anybody.”

The house is just across the street from her own home on the 6400 block of South Hoyne.



Lawrence’s power was recently cut off, which means no air-conditioning, so the 74-year-old spends time on the covered porch of this brick bungalow to escape the summer heat.

“He was kinda special kid,” she says while sifting through a folder. Filled with paper’s related to Shawn’s death, the folder contains a short newspaper article, the death certificate, funeral and burial papers and school photos.

“When he was born, he was a premature, didn't weigh that much and he was kinda slow on some stuff –you know –learning. Cause he went to school and he did good for a while. Then after he got into high school he couldn't keep up and he kinda felt bad about that, but he wasn't no bad person.  You know, he wasn't like angry out here with this fighting and stuff.  He wasn't like that.”

This isn't the first time Lawrence has buried a loved one because of gun violence.

In 1990, her son, Albert Washington Jr., was shot in the chest and killed and left in the parking lot of a public housing project on Chicago's South Side.

The murder didn’t get much more attention than Shawn's death. Lawrence said if they had had a march, or if the preacher had come out after Shawn's recent murder, then it may have gotten some press coverage.

“Even dogs get coverage,” she said referring to a recent news event.

“Three weeks ago a little boy had a puppy and he had autism, and this dog was helping him out and somebody stole the dog.  I wanted, I prayed for them to get that little boy his dog back cause it was sad, you know?  He had got used to this dog, they was trained special for this type of condition this little boy had, so that little boy, you know he didn't know no better so he missed his little puppy.  Finally they caught up with who took the dog and they got his same little puppy back.  So that was very important.  So if a dog can get coverage, why my, a human can't get coverage?”

Tweets on Under the Gun Series
What people are saying about guns in Chicago #ChicagoGuns

AmySueMertens RT @wbez What does it take to get a murder on page one in Chicago? #ChicagoGuns @NoGunViolence http://t.co/6sTo5sU
7 hours ago · reply · retweet · favorite

ChicagoMag RT @WBEZ: What does it take to get a murder on page one in Chicago? #ChicagoGuns http://tinyurl.com/42wtg...
7 hours ago · reply · retweet · favorite

cmpssrose Novelty. No, really. They SAY so. @WBEZ What does it take to get a murder on page one in Chicago? #ChicagoGuns http://t.co/Q8BIJCH
6 hours ago · reply · retweet · favorite

punkvoter RT @WBEZ: Canada population=34 million. 179 gun deaths in ’09. Chicago population =3 million. 376 gun deaths in ‘09.#Chicagoguns http://t.co/80TkMUR
yesterday · reply · retweet · favorite


Matt O'Connor, the Chicago Tribune’s editor of the courts and crime coverage, tried to explain the coverage of the deaths.

“What do we have in Chicago, like 450 murders a year at this point?  News is, you know, something unusual.  I mean, you just inherently, when you have that many murders, at least when we're talking about the newspaper, we can't cover every one of them.”

Sitting on the fourth floor newsroom at Tribune Tower, O’Connor explained how editorial decisions get made at the Tribune. And the paper is not alone in their coverage.  WBEZ usually doesn’t cover individual murders.

One of the striking things about Toronto is that murder is a big deal and makes the papers.

And it was a combination of media coverage and an outraged public that forced city leaders to address gun violence more vigorously in recent years.

O'Connor says the Tribune covers every murder online, but to make the print edition, there needs to be something unusual.

“You know we look for young victims.  Recently we had like an 87-year-old man shot on his front porch.  Doesn't even have to be a murder, sometimes it can just be a shooting that catches our eye.  But again, it's just, we're looking for something newsworthy about that individual story or maybe something broader that it shows us.”
The Chicago Tribune's Matt O'Connor (WBEZ/Rob Wildeboer)

O'Connor says they try to be analytical in their coverage. He says they stay away from sensational adage: “if it bleeds it leads."

He says they don't have the staff to cover every murder in-depth, and he says there's always some competition for news space in the paper in general, and page one in particular.

“We don't want all crime, you know, because that wouldn't be an accurate portrayal of Chicago.  Business is trying to get on the front page, national, foreign, sports in a way, so there's all these competing interests.”

Back in Englewood, Shawn Carter's great-grandmother she says Shawn's killer later shot up their corner when kids and families were outside on their front porches.

She's had some contact with the detectives working Shawn's case and says she thinks Shawn's killer got arrested for shooting a little girl.

“I found out he was locked up, police say he was locked up.  But the detective he thought he'd never get charged with Shawn's murder,” she said.

Lawrence says that's because the boy who was with Shawn when he was killed refused to point out the killer in a police lineup. She figures he's too scared to do it.

Whatever the case is, the violence continues in Englewood.

A couple weeks ago, on July 14, a man who lived one block from Lawrence was shot and killed around the corner.

The Tribune ran a short news item on 30-year-old: Walter Brown.

They also did a short story on Gartania Prince, 24, of the 6100 block of South Wabash.

He was shot and killed that night, too.

Alleged Israeli mafia boss shot amid crime hike

Francois Abutbul, alleged to be one of Israel's top organised crime bosses, was gunned down overnight by unknown assailants, Israeli police said on Sunday.

Abutbul "was killed in his car at a service station," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

Local media reported that two assailants riding motorbikes, their faces covered by helmets, opened fire on Abutbul at a service station near Netanya, north of Tel Aviv.

They fired at least 10 bullets at the 40-year-old, who was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital shortly afterwards, reports said.

The killing appeared to be a targeted hit, possibly by a rival criminal group.

Abutbul, freed from prison just last year after spending two years behind bars for assaulting his wife, is believed to have succeeded his brother Asi at the head of one of Israel's major criminal gangs in 2009.

He assumed the leadership post when Asi was sentenced to 13 years in jail for his role in leading a "criminal organisation."

Israel has seen competition between rival criminal gangs ramp up in recent years, resulting in increased violence that has prompted police to form a special task force, "Unit 443," to tackle the growing problem.