Trending Topics

Chicago Records 10 Homicides in First Week of 2013

Just a week into the New Year, Chicago has already suffered 10 homicides, continuing a trend that led to 513 reported murders last year. Three killings were reported on Saturday alone, including a victim who was reportedly shot more than 15 times. Reports from Chicago authorities revealed that at least 10 people were shot throughout the course of the day.

According to the Chicago Tribune the first victim of the violent weekend was 25-year-old David Kartzmark, found shot in the chest at about 7 a.m. in the city’s Humboldt Park neighborhood. Kartzmark was pronounced dead while being transported to Norwegian-American Hospital.

In the afternoon, another male victim was found with multiple gunshot wounds to his abdomen in the West Englewood area, and later pronounced dead at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital. Police told DNAinfo.com that a “possible offender” was in custody and being questioned in the shooting of the unknown man.

Police were later called to the scene of a domestic dispute turned homicide, where they discovered 55-year-old Angela Welch suffering from multiple stab wounds. She died of  her injuries less than an hour later at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Welch’s daughter Lonika, 25, was charged with a count of first-degree murder, according to authorities.

The tenth homicide of 2013 came early Sunday morning on the Dan Ryan Expressway. CBS Chicago reported that a Nissan Sentra pulled up to Rush University Medical Center, carrying two injured passengers. One of them, 22-year-old Lavonshay Cooper later died. Investigators told CBS that the car was shot at five to 10 times while traveling northbound on Interstate Highway 94. The second gunshot victim was treated at Stroger Hospital and released.

Last year, Chicago’s homicide rate reached its highest mark since 2008. In January 2012, a total of 40 homicides were reported by the authorities. With 10 such crimes reported already, the city is on track to break last year’s mark.

Back to top