Thread: IL-2 more students slain

2 more students slain

THERE'S GOTTA BE OUTRAGE' | Teens are 19th, 20th CPS victims of gun violence this school year

March 30, 2008Recommend (5)

BY ANNIE SWEENEY, ROSEMARY SOBOL AND MONIFA THOMAS Staff Reporters
Right before a Chicago public high school student was gunned down outside Simeon Career Academy on Saturday, a group of students inside the school were brainstorming on ways to curb gun violence.

"We were just talking about it, and then some people ran in to tell us that somebody got shot," said Ronnie Mosley, a junior at Simeon and member of the local school council. "It shows you that something has to be done."

» Click to enlarge image

Chicago Police were at the crime scene Saturday afternoon where a 18 year-old was shot and killed in the parking lot of Simeon Career Academy.
(Scott Stewart/Sun-Times)

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The shooting after Saturday classes at Simeon was one of two this weekend that claimed the lives of Chicago Public Schools students. They were the 19th and 20th CPS students killed in gun violence this school year, officials said.

Chavez Clarke, 18, was shot and killed about 4 p.m., as he walked out of Saturday classes at Simeon, 8147 S. Vincennes. He was the second student in three weeks killed by gunfire after being dismissed from school, authorities said.

Clarke, who was enrolled at Hyde Park Academy but taking Saturday classes at Simeon, was with his twin brother when he was shot, authorities said. Police think the shooting could have been motivated by retaliation, police spokeswoman Monique Bond said.

Three suspects, including the alleged shooter, were immediately arrested. A weapon also was recovered, police said.

The shooting capped a violent two days in which at least seven teens were shot, including the two who were killed.

The other student killed was 15-year-old Miguel Pedro, a CPS student shot while walking to a Northwest Side shop Friday night. His mother said he was an eighth-grader at Alfred Nobel Elementary School.

"It could mean different things,'' Deputy Supt. of Patrol Beatrice Cuello said of the shootings. "It could mean they were recruited into gangs. Some of them were standing on corners. Some were standing around other gang members. We can't say they were all in gangs.''

Cuello said the department was in contact with CPS officials regarding all of the shootings so staff could watch for any retaliation.

Ameena Matthews, who works with the anti-violence group Operation Ceasefire, said she doubted the incidents were over gang territory or issues, but rather loose rivalries on the street that shift from block to block.

"They are out in the street without any type of structure,'' Matthews said. "They're angry, mad as hell, and they're acting out. It has nothing to do with boy testosterone. Their hearts are mad.''

This weekend's violence follows the March 7 shooting of 18-year-old Ruben Ivy, who was gunned down outside Crane High School on the West Side. A 15-year-old has been charged.

Calling the recent spate of shootings involving school-age children "a state of emergency," the Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina parish, where Chavez attended, renewed his call for stricter gun laws and parents taking a more active role in their children's lives.

"We're becoming immune almost to children dying," he said. "There's gotta be outrage. This is everybody's problem; I don't care if you live in Winnetka or on 79th Street."

Pedro's relatives said the teen was returning home from buying ice cream in the 1600 block of North Keeler when he was shot. He was four doors from his house.

He was in the street when someone began shouting gang slogans, police said. A Grand Central District police sergeant said the teen was a member of a street gang. But Pedro's family said he only arrived from Mexico two years ago and was not a gang member.

No arrests had been made as of Saturday evening.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/8684 ... 30.article

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Cops: Four in custody for fatal Simeon shooting

March 30, 2008Recommend (14)

FROM STNG WIRE REPORTS
Four males are in police custody in connection to the fatal shooting Saturday afternoon of an 18-year-old man outside a South Side high school.

About 4 p.m., police responded to the 8200 block of South Vincennes Avenue where an 18-year-old male was shot, police News Affairs Officer JoAnn Taylor said.

Chavez Clarke was attending Saturday classes when he was shot in the parking lot of Simeon Career Academy, authorities said.
(Courtesy NBC5)

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Fire Media Affairs Chief Kevin MacGregor said an ambulance took the man, who was found shot in the parking lot of Simeon Career Academy, 8147 S. Vincennes Ave., to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

The man, Chavez Clarke, of the 7900 block of South Colfax Ave., was pronounced dead at Christ Medical Center at 4:34 p.m. Saturday, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.

Clarke was attending Saturday classes when he was shot outside the school, authorities said. It was not clear whether the teen attended Simeon full-time or was just attending the Saturday classes.

Preliminary reports indicated three people were in police custody for the shooting, but early Sunday police News Affairs Officer David Banks said there are four males in custody. No charges have been filed as of about 2:45 a.m.

A weapon was recovered from the scene and the shooter is one of those in custody, police said.

A spokesman for Chicago Public Schools could not be reached for comment Saturday.

Calumet Area detectives are investigating.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/8684 ... 08.article

Black Political Thought

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Parents of Students at Chicago's Crane High School Keep Kids Home Due to Fear of Retaliation
Tuesday, March 18, 2008

I have been following the situation at Chicago's Crane High School since the murder of student Ruben Ivy with great interest. It seems that even though this young man lost his life so needlessly, the problems at the school still persist and may even have become more dire. According to Chicago SunTimes reporter Maudlyne Ihejirika, the reality of gang life has kept nearly 200 Crane High students from the ABLA Homes, also known as "the Village," out of school since March 7th, when a gang member from the homes gunned down another student who lived in rival gang territory.

"You got one of ours. We're gonna get one of yours." So, is this the new way of life for the residents in the area? Is it okay to be kept under siege by a group of thugs? Where are the elected officials for that district? Oh, I guess these are inner city people and not residents in the wealthy suburbs of Chicago, so there is no real urgency to helping these people. Children are being kept out of school for fear of gang reprisals and the U.S.A. is trying to enforce law and order in Iraq and Afghanistan. Please, spare me the drama. This is a doggone shame!

"You know they're coming for somebody from ABLA, and it doesn't have to be a gang member," said a 16-year-old girl, a junior who was afraid to be identified. So officials have come up with "Operation Safe Passage," an unprecedented plan to protect students who fear they may be the next target.

According to the SunTimes, when spring break ends next week, Crane students from "the Village" will gather at one central location each morning. CTA buses will pick them up after they've walked en masse to the bus stop. Then a Chicago Police escort will follow the buses to a transfer point, where under the watchful eyes of even more officers, they will board second buses to Crane at 2245 W. Jackson. They will enter the school under police watch.

"On their way home, it will be vice versa," said Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd). Fioretti was among the officials who met last Tuesday to negotiate the plan after it became clear that ABLA students were not going to return to school until they felt safe. ABLA parents had called the school, police, their alderman. They said generations of gang violence had taught them what was coming.Crane principal Richard Smith will present the plan to ABLA parents this week at the home of Delilah Smith, the mother of 15-year-old Devonte Smith, who is accused of killing 18-year-old student Ruben Ivy outside Crane on March 7.

So, what are the names of the gangs in the area? Ivy, the student who was shot to death, was from Rockwell Gardens, long a stronghold of the Traveling Vice Lords. Devonte's home in ABLA is New Breeds turf. The school also draws kids from Henry Horner public housing -- home to factions of the Black Disciples and Four Corner Hustlers -- and from the private St. Stephen's Terrace, considered Vice Lords turf.

Ivy's mother, Emily Green, said it best, "It's just so much violence, and all of it really for nothing.""All these communities have got to come together, if we don't want nothing like this to happen again." The police department alone cannot fix the problem. The people in the communities need to work together and not be afraid to confront the enemies within. If marshall law, which is quite controversial, is needed to weed out gang activity, then so be it. There is a lot of blame to go around for the parents of some of these children. Be better parents and take your responsibility a lot more serious. You are creating monsters that wreak havoc on the lives of innocent people, in addition to ruining their own. Stop relying on the government and schools to play the role of parents, that is your responsibility. If you can't be a good parent, stop having kids. Just my thoughts, you be the judge.....

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Emily Green....seems to be a clear thinker. Generations of irresponsible adults having children they do not "parent" ...this is what is the cause of this problem. These aren't kids growing up in Beaver Cleaver families ...these are young, disaffected, violent, ammoral thugs raised by the adult versions of the same.

I truely don't understand this gang mentality. I agree when they say their hearts are filled with anger but anger at what? Who? I don't think they even know anymore.

I also agree that there isn't even a direct target anymore......they don't seem to be out for a specific kid for some reason.....any body will do. 6 year old kid doing their homework at the kitchen table.....grandma asleep in her bed.....life just seems to mean nothing anymore. I know theyre after banning guns.....but heck they'll pummel you with a baseball bat, golf club....whatever's handy. Banning guns won't stop it.....they'll find something else.

Had a group beat up an old man here....70 years old....walking to church. No reason....he saw the group of boys and just continued walking by....they beat him up because he was there. I can't remember if they took his wallet....but the basic reason was he was there....

I posted an article earlier where a school was all bent out of shape because 20 students were attending this school that shouldn't be there because they didn't live in the right district. The "right" district put their kids in a gang school. Yet it's OK to take thousands who don't even belong in the country, forget the district, which also perpetuate the severe gang problem, and that's ok. Unless your rich, there aren't many options open to you. Everyone can't up and move everytime there's something going on.

I can't even fathom being a kid and trying to go to school in this atmosphere. They used to say it was a mistake to send a minor offender to jail because it doesn't really change them....they just get the wealth of wisdom from life long criminals on how to do it better and not get caught the next time. Seems going to school in some of these areas are the same. Become one or you won't survive. The actions don't happen just at school....it's out there 24/7.

I think it's this school they were talking about that I read an article about yesterday.....they are thinking of making them wear uniforms. Uniforms aren't going to do squat for this mentality. They don't seem to get they'll kill you day or night and what you're wearing might be 1 of a 1000 different excuses as to why. They might just waste you because you're mama voted for having them wear these doofy outfits. They do because they can.

Maybe martial law is the only way to stop it. Lord knows people have tried parks and youth centers and special schools and uniforms and none of that has worked. Someone has to instill some form of personal responsibility and have the right to do it...because they've taken it away from parents and teachers. Seems this is a prime example of how lack of disipline damages their psychies more than a swat on the be-hind.