Chicago police on Monday said investigators might have hints about who shot eight people, including five fatally, at a home in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side last week.
Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan didn’t want to disclose too much about the investigation during a news conference at Chicago Police Department headquarters, but said detectives on the case were “definitely moving forward in the right direction.”
“I don’t want to give a lot of information on that because some of it is speculation,” Deenihan said. “But the detectives are investigating. They have basically a pretty good investigative plan and idea of who may have done the shooting inside (that) residence.”
At about 5:45 a.m. June 15, two gunmen shot eight people in a house in the 6200 block of South Morgan Street, killing four immediately. A fifth victim died Saturday afternoon.
Seven of the victims were shot in the head, according to a police report that cited preliminary information.
Officers received a call of shots fired from the second-floor residents of the house. The officers entered the first-floor apartment of the house and found four people dead with gunshot wounds to the head.
They included 19-year-old Shermetria Williams, 28-year-old Ratanya Aryiel Rogers, 32-year-old Denice “Niecy” Mathis, and 35-year-old Blake Lee, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
The fifth person to die, 25-year-old Briana Lawrence, had a young daughter, her father said last week outside the University of Chicago Medical Center where she was taken after the shooting.
That morning, Clifton Lawrence, 45, said he was about to go to work when he learned from family that Briana had been shot and that the killings had been on the news. Those involved in Chicago’s violence needed to realize what they are doing, Lawrence said.
“They don’t have respect for the elders. I don’t think they value life no more. … They’re shooting kids,” Lawrence said. “It’s got to come to an end.”
He said Briana had been working at a seafood restaurant for about two or three months and “was on the right path.” But he acknowledged that young women like his daughter can be vulnerable depending on where they choose to spend time.
“You can’t go anywhere because the city’s messed up,” Lawrence said.
It wasn’t the first time someone fired a gun at another person inside the home.
At 3:15 a.m. Nov. 1, 2019, officers responded to a call of a person shot at the white-stoned home, according to a Chicago police report included in a city complaint filing against the building’s owner, Enrique Badillo Sr., who is also a Chicago police officer. Police found a 26-year-old man lying on the kitchen floor in his own blood with gunshot wounds throughout his body, telling the officers, “Get me some help.”
Police found five shell casings, dice and money on the floor, the report said. A witness told police that at least 50 people were at a party inside and people in the kitchen were playing dice before the shots went off and everyone ran.
The police report noted that 20 service calls had been made to the address within a year of the 2019 shooting. It included three incident calls and two shots-fired calls. No narcotics, gang-related calls or arrests were made at the address.
The city’s Building Department went through the building on Jan. 9, 2020, according to department records. The inspectors were not able to gain access inside the building but found several building code violations outside: stairway without handrails, broken porch and a broken window pane.
The city Law Department filed a complaint on March 5, 2020, in the Circuit Court of Cook County against Badillo, who does not live at the property. Last week, after the shooting, the Police Department relieved Badillo of his police powers, meaning he was reassigned to paid desk duty without the ability to carry a badge or gun for work purposes while disciplinary investigators look into any potential misconduct involving him. The department would not say why they relieved Badillo of his powers.
