Crime News
UPDATE: Facebook posts from Imelda Munoz, who stated she is Gabriel Gilliams' mother, said that Gilliams has been located with his father in downstate Illinois.
Media reports note that McKinley Park neighborhood resident Gabriel Gilliams has been reported missing by the Chicago Police Department. The 17-year-old Gilliams was last seen on Friday, July 5, in the 3700 block of South Honore Street.
Gillians is 5 feet, 11 inches tall and may be carrying a red book bag. His location may be in suburban Oak Forest, reports said.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the teen is encouraged to contacct Area Central detectives by calling (312) 747-8380.
Media reports show that seven people are in custody after a graffiti spree that hit the Cloud Gate sculpture in Millennium Park (aka "the Bean") and the cancer survivors wall in Maggie Daley Park. The graffiti is identical to much of that which has been a scourge of the McKinley Park neighborhood, with a 35th Street reference and similar paint and style.
As publicly discussed at past meetings of Beat 912 of the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS), the "35th" graffiti pattern is seemingly related to a progression of graffitos who move from the local tagging crew to a recruiting-level gang group with similar messaging and iconography and then to the Latin Counts, a violent gang entrenched in the neighborhood which continually blankets the neighborhood with its gang-specific graffiti.
Read more: McKinley Park Graffiti Tagging Spreads to The Bean, Maggie Daley Park
Additional Chicago Police Department resources, including specialized tactical officers, have been deployed to concentrate on an identified area of problematic drug and gang activity in the McKinley Park neighborhood, said Community Liaison Officer Cheryl Clark at the Wednesday, June 12, meeting of Beat 912 of the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS). The 3800 block of South Honore Street in Chicago — long an area receiving complaints at CAPS meetings and the site of past gang-related activity — will receive extra scrutiny this summer, she said.
"We have assigned tactical teams to look at these problems," Clark said.
Read more: Police Tactical Team Deployed to Neighborhood Gang and Drug Hot Spot
The Chicago Police Department has issued a community alert regarding a string of burglaries taking place in May in the McKinley Park neighborhood. In each incident, burglars used force to gain entry to a residence or garage, then stole items before escaping undetected.
The burglaries took place at the following times and locations:
According to media reports, a 23-year-old woman was injured from gunfire early Monday morning in the 3700 block of South Winchester Avenue, Chicago.
A Chicago Sun-Times article said the woman — a passenger in a car — realized she had been shot in the shoulder after hearing gun shots. The incident took place around 3:45 a.m. on Monday, May 27, after which the woman received treatment and was stabilized at Stroger Hospital.
Police do not know if she was an intended target, and the woman did not see the shooter, the article said.
