5 Young People Found Dead In Chicago

City's Violent Spring Continues As Bodies Are Discovered In Ransacked House

(CBS/AP)  Authorities found the bodies of five young people Wednesday inside a ransacked house on Chicago's South Side, raising the body count in an already violent spring, police said.

It appeared the three men and two women had been shot, but investigators were waiting for the Cook County medical examiner's office to confirm a cause of death, said Chief of Detectives Thomas Byrne. Autopsies were scheduled for Thursday, the medical examiner's office said.

"This is very serious," Byrne said at a news conference near the two-story house. "There's five victims. There's five families right now that are grieving over this."

All the victims were in their 20s, and they all knew each other, said Deputy Chief Eugene Williams. There were signs of forced entry into the house, which appeared to have been ransacked, Williams said.

A woman visiting the house found the bodies Wednesday afternoon, police spokeswoman Monique Bond said.

Police did not have offenders in custody but did not believe a killer was on the loose, Bond said. It was possible the victims knew the offender, she said.

"We don't think that the neighbors need to worry," she said. "We believe that it's been contained inside this residence."

Police declined to comment on whether the scene was a murder-suicide.

They cordoned off a section of the residential street as neighbors milled around, talked in groups and watched.

Bernard Scales, who said he is the grandfather of one of the victims, said the deceased were "good kids."

"They weren't gangbangers and they weren't into drug-dealing. I bet somebody over there thought they were into something, but they weren't," Scales told the Chicago Tribune.

The discovery comes on the heels of a spate of violence in Chicago. Nine people died in 36 shootings over the past weekend. The weekend shootings were scattered all over the city. Police said they included gang shootings, drive-by attacks, and even one case in which someone used an AK-47 to shoot up a plumbing supply store.

One man died and three others were wounded, including one of the alleged offenders, in shootings late Monday in a McDonald's restaurant parking lot on the South Side.

The recent violence followed a six-month period of deadly violence against Chicago public school students, reports CBS News correspondent Cynthia Bowers.

Since September, 24 students have been murdered. Last school year 34 students were killed, an average of one child getting murdered every eight days.

[mikekleber]

Given the current state of our country, incidents like this one will become more common. There are no jobs ouit there, and people, gangs,etc... need money to live. I was a paramedic for years, and in the mid 80''s, the streets were violent for two years. People need good jobs. Unfortunately, Bush and his cronies have never worried about money, and have no idea what people are experiencing now.

[sumarongi1]

The situation will get much worse. As more and more young people realize that they are expected to enter into the work force on a minimum wage that keeps them from seeking an independent life style. As prices continue to rise they realize they cannot support themselves in a traditional manner. Violent crimes, drug dealing and prostitution are sometimes the only solution they consider.

[hammerhouse1]

Amazing this happened since people aren''t allowed to own guns in this city. Perhaps Obama can make things better, oh wait, he''s already a politician for this welfare state.

[keithle1]

Banning handguns just makes ordinary people & politicians feel good. A nice photo opportunity. Gives everyone a warm feeling. We''re making a difference! Doesn''t do anything to reduce the homicide rate. NOTHING. Criminals don''t care about laws. They do what they want. That''s why their criminals.

If someone wants to keep a handgun in their bedroom because they feel safer doing that then fine. I don''t care. Go ahead. Register it. Get trained in how to use it so you don''t blow Fido away by mistake when the burglar breaks in. These kind of people & people who hunt or shoot targets/skeets, etc, are not the problem. Never were & never will be. They''re law abiding. They''re not driving around the streets of Chicago, Detroit & Philadelphia shooting at people who are in their turf or sold them cocaine that had talcum powder in it.

The thug class is the problem.

[closethippy1]

Sounds to me like the US is ripe for Socialism. It''s time we nationalize the oil companies and get the freaking profit out of them.
Time to subsidize food prices, time to get everyone health coverage from birth to death.
It''s time we act as a country where the life of a citizen takes precendent over the profits of greedy
and shameless corporations.
Socialism was designed a long time ago especifically in response to the thoughtless and heartless ways of a raw capitalist society where everyone is on their own without any hope for help from anyone.
It''s raw capitalism that led Europe to two world wars. Right after these wars Europe as it can be seen today has adopted a whole bunch of socialist measures, regardless of how "rightwing" sometimes a government can be, because they understand the function of a government is to help its citizens first and not the corporations, profitmongers and warmongers.
Thank you.

[closethippy1]

(This is weird. Below me there are two posts screaming against people who want to "ban guns" and yet there are no posts from anyone who wants to "ban guns". Are these gun people crazy or what?)

[sblake63]

Given the current state of our country, incidents like this one will become more common. There are no jobs ouit there, and people, gangs,etc... need money to live. I was a paramedic for years, and in the mid 80''''s, the streets were violent for two years. People need good jobs. Unfortunately, Bush and his cronies have never worried about money, and have no idea what people are experiencing now.



Posted by mikekleber at 02:29 AM : Apr 24, 2008

_________________________________

Murdering and stealing are NO excuse. Being poor and without a job has always been a fact - world wide. So this person''s argument links Bush to this problem. So what he''s saying are people are basically good inside and if you just give them a break, this crime wave will stop. Nonsense! Saying these 5 people would be alive if the killers had jobs is the most insane thing I have ever read.

Stop linking bad behavior and poverty to crime. Its a tired old excuse and hardly anybody buys that line of nonsense anymore

[antizion]

(This is weird. Below me there are two posts screaming against people who want to "ban guns" and yet there are no posts from anyone who wants to "ban guns". Are these gun people crazy or what?)
Posted by closethippy1 at 07:55 AM : Apr 24, 2008
- ----------------------------

Four simple points:

1 - It sounds to me like the dead victims did not have a gun so a gun ban would have done what it always does, it leaves the criminals with guns and the victims dead.

2 - Just prior to every genocide in the last 100 years there was a gun ban.

3 - As someone that can''t form a proper sentence, you probably don''t know much about history.

4 - "The right to bear arms." - Love it or leave it.

Thank you, good night.

[louiville2]

closethippy you''re seeing the end result of 40 years of socialism! In communities where they brag about five generations on welfare. Where we give them enough money so they don''t have to work and the industries that spring up around them to collect the welfare money are sneaker manufacturers, rap music rip-off artists, drug dealers and black market gun dealers. In 1960 three out of ten blacks came from broken families now nine out of ten, thanks to socialism.

[usbrit-2009]

2 - Just prior to every genocide in the last 100 years there was a gun ban.
Posted by AntiZion

The only people who truly believe this are gun nuts. No established history even discusses this possibility. You take a bunch of Jewish bankers and doctors, give them arms and you think they''d stand up to a group of Waffen SS any better than they did without guns? No - it would have just meant empty seats on the trains.

[dredre2k]

"In 1960 three out of ten blacks came from broken families now nine out of ten, thanks to socialism."-louisville.

WHere are you getting your statistics from? There are plenty of black people and families that are doing just fine and obtaining advanced degrees that you couldn''t dream of getting yourself...

Get an education!

[usbrit-2009]

Stop linking bad behavior and poverty to crime. Its a tired old excuse and hardly anybody buys that line of nonsense anymore

Posted by sblake63

Huh?? I don''t see the rich running around mugging people in the streets - they steal in much more subtle ways. Of course poverty leads to crime.

[galaxiana]

They need to classify these youth gangs as terrorist groups, which is exactly what they are in the neighborhoods in which they operate. Anybody even suspected of being involved with gangs should be swept up and shipped off to Guantanamo or somewhere. If you don''t want to become a victim of these sweeps, then stay very clear of the gang taint!

Until we begin to seriously crack down on this behavior, these gangs will continue to exert peer pressure on poorly-educated and poverty-stricken youth. The first step to improving these neighborhoods is to make it VERY CLEAR that society will not tolerate illegal gang activity any more.

All of the bleeding-heart solutions have failed. Now it''s time to get tough!

[louiville2]

dredre2k-Thats a from a quote from Senator Daniel Patrick Moynahan quoting national statistics a couple of years ago. So "Physician heal thyself" and get an education. Instead of knee jerk spouting off do a little research.

[fibonacci_]

Now gun supporters are advocating that everyone be "armed" so they can protect themselves. They helped to create this pro-gun culture... it''''s insane to have dangerous firearms that any nutcase can buy at your corner-store gun-shop. Other countries that ban firearms do not have these problems.

Wake up!

Posted by dredre2k

Yes. More guns in the hands of people also means more guns in the hands of criminals. It is a complicated problem, but the argument that we need more guns out in public at any given moment seems fundamentally flawed.

[whatithink-2009]

galaxiana,

What bleeding heart solution are you talking about? Have you ever done any volunteer work in these areas? There has NEVER been a bleeding heart solution. People in these areas already get the maximum sentencing, already get the maximum contempt, already get the maximum apathy. You are dreaming.

[whatithink-2009]

sblake63,

You are the idiot if you don''t think there is a link between poverty and crime.

[underdogus]

Of course poverty leads to crime.
Posted by USBrit ....drug use leads to crime....hmm?

[dredre2k]

"dredre2k-Thats a from a quote from Senator Daniel Patrick Moynahan quoting national statistics a couple of years ago." - Louisville

The Moynahan report was written in 1965. I''m still waiting to see where the 9 out of 10 statistic comes from, specifically. Moynahan is by no means the authority the state of black people in this country.
There are plenty of successful black people in this country so think about how realistic 9 of 10 is. Or, just get some black friends and ask them what they think before you spout statistics.

[usbrit-2009]

Posted by keats20086

Reported

[whatithink-2009]

excoachken,

I agree.

Many people here are more upset with the thought of gun control than the fact that several people have died. Shameful.

And, placing more guns on the street is not going to solve the problem. People who commit these crimes are already placing themselves at risk of being killed. If someone doesn''t care about himself and is only living in the present, he or she is not going to care whether the person has a gun or not.

[usbrit-2009]

Of course poverty leads to crime.
Posted by USBrit ....drug use leads to crime....hmm?

Posted by underdogus

OK - Drug use and poverty are two of the many social mores (or lesses?) that lead to crime. Of course drug use is a crime in and of itself, but it does lead to more crime.

[whatithink-2009]

USBrit,

I agree. Drug use, especially in poor areas, definitely leads to crime. Many people steal to support their habits.

[slaphappy86]

Wahh Wahh its the Guns wahh...

USBRIT..I have a suggestion for you Leave!

We have enough Euro-Trash, infiltrating our country..

Did all you kook-job Liberals ever think with your infinite wisdom. That its stupid people, not Guns that cause violence? But as per usual you need a cause.

Interesting Statistic:

Poverty affects whites more than blacks,

But yet,its the blacks that file for those welfare checks..

[underdogus]

Of course drug use is a crime in and of itself, but it does lead to more crime.

Posted by USBrit ..agreed.

[louiville2]

dredre2k-"the proportion of all black families that were headed by single parents climbed from 52% to 65%.""However, these increases still left the percentage of black families maintained by single parents more than twice the percentage for white families, and 75% higher than that for Hispanics." from current statistics and this doesn%u2019t include divorced remarried broken families. Nine out of ten so get a life. Moynahan was discussing the obvious failures of the "Great society" the he helped create just before his death.

[usbrit-2009]

Did all you kook-job Liberals ever think with your infinite wisdom. That its stupid people, not Guns that cause violence? But as per usual you need a cause.
Posted by slaphappy86

No, it''s stupid people WITH guns that cause violence.

Interesting Statistic:

Poverty affects whites more than blacks,

But yet,its the blacks that file for those welfare checks..

Posted by slaphappy86

Where did you get that revealing piece of information?

[whatithink-2009]

slaphappy86,

Everything has to get racial, doesn''t it. Poverty is also an element of segregation. Poor whites are less segregated than poor blacks. Poor whites are not condemned to live in ghettos. Poor whites are usually dispersed in rural areas or mixed in with middle class areas. If you place a lot of poor people within a small square meter of land, without opportunities, with poor education, with drugs, with alcohol, with guns...you get this, regardless of color.

[prinzowhales]

Daly''s fascist machine + CIA drugs dumbed down chemically altered, amoral savages corrupt law enforcement spiralling energy and food prices a fatuous public = chaos and death.

...and to meet the lazy, obese, fatuous public''s porcine squeals for public safety...I give you....THE NEW WORLD ORDER

Keep your guns!...Use them on anyone who tries to take them!!...and then get the people who sent them!

[blackwater66-2009]

Perhaps this city needs better policing of these 3rd world type areas ??? Let us bring democracy to that city as we did in Baghdad''s ??

[dredre2k]

"If you place a lot of poor people within a small square meter of land, without opportunities, with poor education, with drugs, with alcohol, with guns...you get this, regardless of color." --whatithink

You hit the nail right on the HEAD! Thank you posting! Very good insight.

[perceptions5]

"five young people Wednesday inside a ransacked house on Chicago''s South Side- CBS"

FYI my fellow Americans but the "southside" of Chicago is Obama''s old district.

For all the "contaminated" Obama supporters..................the "southside" is STILL the "badest part of town".

Even after Obama represented them for years there.

So Obama supporters "exactly" what is it that you see that makes you feel like he, Obama, will make a difference in the White House when he couldn''t be a leader for change and good in the "southside" of Chicago.

Awaiting some good liberal excuses for these FACTS.

........McVet, getcentered, skyk, j-whitman, and the rest of the flaming liberals here...........please advise.

To most Americans it''s just another normal day in one of America''s "deep blue one-party" cities. Cities that have been that way for DECADES AND GENERATIONS.

..............oh the humanity............where''s the Social Justice, liberal Democrats?

[louiville2]

dredre2k- Here is a better stat. "Over 90% of Black children will live in families headed by a female at some point in their lives (Hill, 1999)."

[perceptions5]

perceptions5 - That''''s a truly silly argument.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by julesarcher1
------------------------

Tell that to the parents of the murdered children''s parents.

Really sad indeed and the Dems who run these cities want no resposibility................so the Social Injustice continues...........thanks Dems.

[whatithink-2009]

dredre2k,

Thanks.

Many people forget that poor whites are also given opportunities in roles as police officers and prison guards. Many prisons are placed in rural communities to provide jobs to people there.

[slaphappy86]

*** straight everything has to get racial, facts are the facts. Get off your *** and work "Albeit macht Frei". But you libs love giving handouts making "these" people lazy and having to resort to flipping drugs.

And before you get all Typical Lib "ACLU" on me, by labeling me a racist. I''m proud of my white heritage, I''m proud of my white ancestors, I''m proud to advance the achievements of my people.

Furthermore, your going to have to pry my guns from my cold dead fingers to take them away from me..

[whatithink-2009]

louiville2,

That statistic was close to 100% for most of the history of the US. Many people forget that black and family were excluded for such a long time and black men were promoted and forced to act as bulls who had to impregnate as many women as possible.

[prinzowhales]

Both Democratic candidates were born in Rockefeller''s second city...the Chicago Establishment that owns Daley, owns them...look what this Chicago machine has been able to accomplish...Chicago was the banking end of the Clinton protected Mena drug smuggling and money laundering operation. Remember Rostenkowski''s bank? Obama, with his discount mansion from Rezko...Rezko with his crooked low-income housing scam...everyone with a finger in the pie...All it takes is people stupid enough to keep voting for them!

What do you want to bet that the perps have been through the system and out several times?

And, by the way, did you know that while Chicago is going ape...you were paying for three liver transplants for one illegal allien? Way to go, morons!! Keep those borders open like those two Chicogoans--Obama and Clinton want (and Juan McWar)!
And, remember how important it is to keep wages down...because high wages cause inflation....You''ve seen your wages spiralling upward out of control, haven''t you? Keep voting Demopublican!!

[crater7]

WOW! CHICAGO''S SOUTH SIDE. ISN''T THIS THE LOCATION OF THE OBAMA''S $1.6 MILLION MODEST HOME? THE ONE THAT THE OBAMA''S PURCHASED ADDITIONAL LAND FROM THE REZKO''S.

GOD "BLESS" AMERICA. NOT "G D" AMERICA.

[antizion]

2 - Just prior to every genocide in the last 100 years there was a gun ban.
Posted by AntiZion

The only people who truly believe this are gun nuts. No established history even discusses this possibility. You take a bunch of Jewish bankers and doctors, give them arms and you think they''''d stand up to a group of Waffen SS any better than they did without guns? No - it would have just meant empty seats on the trains.

Posted by USBrit at 08:50 AM : Apr 24, 2008
------------------------------

Established history? Now that is a new term. Make that up yourself or did you mean to intimate establishments version of history.

The WWI, WWII and Nazis were all about creating the state of Israel and driving the Jews there. But first, they had to break the military alliance between Germany and Turkey who controlled Palestine.

Why don''t you move back to Britain? We came here to get away from you idiot slaves that need a national mommy and daddy to rule over your enslaved minds.

[whatithink-2009]

"I''''m proud to advance the achievements of my people.
Posted by slaphappy86 "

People like you make me laugh. You want to take credit for something somebody else did just because they share your same lack of melanin. Yet, you don''t want to take responsibility for anything someone did who shares your same lack of melanin.

You can''t have it both ways.

If you don''t accept responsibility for the wrongs, you don''t get credit for the rights!

[cheddarboy82]

regardless of gun control, bad people always get guns. Look at drugs, there illegal, yet drugs are more accessible now than ever. It''s more like the inner city needs to start helping eachother out, more role models, graduate highschool, get a job. Instead they look to drug dealing cause thats what rappers rap, or there dream is to be in the nba. 52% of homocides are committed by Blacks yet they only make up 15-20% of the united states. Thats messed up

[galaxiana]

Whatithink said:

"What bleeding heart solution are you talking about? Have you ever done any volunteer work in these areas?"

--

Yes, I have done volunteer work in gang-infested urban areas, and the first reaction is to counsel the kids when they first get caught doing the petty crimes that lead up to full-fledged gang involvement; the courts give them the benefit of the doubt and render probation.

The biggest complaint police officers who work in these areas have is that their hands are tied. If they jack someone up, they better have a verifiable probable cause, even when they know they are dealing with gang members who are hanging around together selling drugs or tagging, etc., as soon as the police turn their back.

Until we empower our police to really deal effectively with these gangs, the gangs will retain the upper hand. The bleeding hearts say, "well this is America, innocent until proven guilty, there must be restraint on the police, etc." and I agree... to a point. We enacted legislation after the Oklahoma City bombings that allowed for increased police powers in the face of terrorism. Such laws were greatly strengthened after 9/11.

But until we classify urban gangs as the terrorists they are, the police will never be able to suppress them, because they lack the power to do so under normal civilian laws. After all, if the police could have solved the gang problem, wouldn''t they have done so by now? Gangs have been around for decades! Enough already!

[slaphappy86]

1 in 4 blacks will serve a prison sentence...

[prinzowhales]

If you try to shoot me...I will walk over to the phone and dial 911...so I dare you! go ahead and try... do it!...I''ll get a restraining order on you if you bust down my door and shoot me...I''m an obedient little slave...I don''t want anything to do with a handgun...handguns are bad...so shoot me and you''ll get in trouble...hahaha

All Switzerland is armed with automatic weapons and there is peace. Why are Americans so swinish...so murderous...holding life and property in such contempt...Who breeds such vile sub-human creatures? And who would be foolish to hand one''s security and the regulation of one''s life over to the very people who "educated" such animals?

[mbcsmith]

The only people who truly believe this are gun nuts. No established history even discusses this possibility. You take a bunch of Jewish bankers and doctors, give them arms and you think they''''''''d stand up to a group of Waffen SS any better than they did without guns? No - it would have just meant empty seats on the trains.

Posted by USBrit at 08:50 AM : Apr 24, 2008

You can pry my gun from my cold dead hand. Your one world order doesn''t fly here.
The U.S. constitution recognizes my inalienable right to protect myself as written by those "gun nuts" Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton et al.

[galaxiana]

Cheddarboy82 wrote:

"...52% of homocides are committed by Blacks yet they only make up 15-20% of the united states."

----

Blacks make up about 11-12% of the total U.S. population according to 2005 Census Bureau mid-census estimates, although they make up much higher percentages in certain urban areas. In Chicago, for instance, blacks comprise 36% of the population.

[whatithink-2009]

"After all, if the police could have solved the gang problem, wouldn''''t they have done so by now? Posted by galaxiana"

I have to respectfully disagree. You are placing the police at the level of saint. There are some police officers who are deeply involved in the drug trade as well. I''ve read recently about several arrests involving police officers. There are good cops and bad cops, but you seem to forget the latter.

Look at what we are doing in Baghdad that seems to be working a bit. As long as we used the stick, crime and violence there were at an all-time high. Many of the analysts in Baghdad say that young people are during to insurgent groups because of a lack of jobs and opportunities. We''ve started to give some people opportunities and the problems have started to get a bit better.

What I have seen that has worked in many poor areas is helping the child early. Something happens to a child between five and fifteen. We need to figure out what that is.

There are no bleeding hearts and certainly not the police. There also need to be more police officers in the area who come from the area. Most of the police officers who work in these areas do not come from these areas and many personally do not care about the people they are supposed to serve.

[louiville2]

From a black man "Remembering the spiritual and moral decay that living in a fatherless home on welfare festered in my family and all the families in our neighborhood makes me both angry and sad. What makes me angrier is that today''s black "leaders" don''t have the guts to admit that the welfare state-which for many of them was their political meal ticket-failed black America horribly. Thomas Sowell, in an August 17, 2004 article entitled "A Painful Anniversary," puts it this way:

The War on Poverty represented the crowning triumph of the liberal vision of society-and of government programs as the solutions to social problems. The disastrous consequences that followed have made the word "liberal" so much of a political liability that today even candidates with long left-wing track records have evaded or denied that designation." just what we need more Socialism, the left always tries to brush this stuff under the rug.

[whatithink-2009]

slaphappy86,

2 of 4 Wall Streeters would serve a prison time if they ever decided to prosecute one.

Most criminals do not go to prison and the more power you have more likely you will not. Not going to prison and being a criminal are not mutually exclusive.