'Everybody is scared'
(http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/4876 ... 28.article)

July 28, 2007

BY STEVEN ROSS JOHNSON, BEN LEFEBVRE AND ERIN CALANDRIELLO Courier News
Five young men were shot in Elgin on a hot summer night, leaving a crime-stricken neighborhood shaking in disbelief. Two died.

Police said this week's first and second homicides of the year in that northwest suburb could be gang-related.

Shortly after 10:10 p.m. Thursday, the five men, ranging in age from 16 to 23, were shot outside the home of two of the victims in the 300 block of North Street. One was recent Elgin High School graduate Julian Mascote, who died in the arms of his 13-year-old brother, Rodrigo, within minutes of the shooting.

Julian Mascote previously had been identified by police as having involvement with local street gangs.

Elgin Police Sgt. Sean Rafferty said officers responding to a neighbor's report of shots fired found the men suffering from gunshot wounds outside the home. Mascote and 21-year-old Francisco Franco of Elgin were pronounced dead on arrival at Sherman Hospital.

Three others, including Mascote's 16-year-old brother Diego, were being treated Friday afternoon at Sherman and Provena St. Joseph Hospital in Elgin.

"There appears to have been one shooter on foot," Rafferty said. "We don't know how many suspects there are yet."

As daylight crept into the neighborhood Friday, residents offered no descriptions of the shooter to police investigators, Rafferty said. No weapon was found on the scene, and there were no reports of the victims having returned fire, he said.

Onlookers described a neighborhood in fear of its descent into violence.

"Everybody is scared around here," said Edward Lorenzo, who has lived in the neighborhood 11 years and said he has noticed the number of gun-related incidents there has increased steadily in the last five years.

"The [police] gang unit is always coming around -- it's getting worse," he said.

Exactly three weeks before, police found seven 9mm shell casings and bloodstains around the corner in the 300 block of College Street. Witnesses said several men cruising in a dark-colored car shot a 21-year-old man in the leg.

The murders this week leave residents and the victims' relatives shaken, fearful and frustrated.

Friday morning, as reporters and police swarmed the scene, residents placed two white crosses in the ground in a neighboring yard while relatives of Mascote gathered at his home in mourning.

"He made the family happy. He was always playing around," said his little brother. "He was the only dude who could make jokes, and he was trying to get on the right path. I miss him, and I hope God takes care of him."

Rafferty could not say whether this incident marked a rise in gang activity but said there was always a possibility for retaliation or continued attacks.

Police urged witnesses or anyone with information in the shooting to call (847) 695-4195, an anonymous tip line available in English and Spanish.