Waukegan Talk

Four charged with attempted murder
Man shot in car on Waukegan street
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January 26, 2010

News-Sun Staff Report
WAUKEGAN -- Four men are in jail on high bonds after being arrested for attempted murder and other charges.

Police said late Monday the four, all Waukegan residents, were arrested following the shooting of a 42-year-old man in his car at 11:36 p.m. Thursday in the 2000 block of Western Avenue. Robbery was the apparent motive.

Ja'Frai Bradshaw (top left), 19, Michael J. Cook (top right), 19, Christopher N. Davis, 18, and Darrius Gunn, 18, all of Waukegan, were arrested following the shooting of a 42-year-old man.

The unidentified victim was found by police seated on the ground next to his car bleeding from his head. He had lacerations to the front and back of his head and had a single gunshot wound to the abdomen. He was taken to Vista Medical Center East and remained there Monday in critical condition.

Witnesses to the incident said that they heard a gunshot and then saw several people running from the scene. An officer responding to the call saw a man a few blocks away from the scene who matched the description given by witnesses.

The officer stopped the man, identified as Darrius Gunn, 18, of the 2100 block of Lorraine Avenue, and noted there was blood on Gunn's clothing, police said. He was then positively identified by a witness as one of the subjects seen fleeing the scene.

Further investigation led police to three additional suspects who were all apprehended within 10 hours of the shooting. The three suspects are Ja'Frai Bradshaw, 19, of the 600 block of 2nd Street; Michael J. Cook, 19, of the 500 block of Poplar Street; and Christopher N. Davis, 18, of the 2200 block of Linden Avenue.

Waukegan detectives determined the quartet intended to rob the victim after they saw him sitting in his car. After they only obtained his cell phone, Cook allegedly shot the victim as he and the others fled the scene, police said.

The victim's cell phone was recovered from one of the suspects, and the weapon used in the shooting, a .22-caliber sawed-off rifle, was recovered from another suspect.

The accused have been charged with attempted murder, armed robbery and aggravated battery with a firearm. All four were taken to Lake County bond court on Saturday and were remanded to the Lake County Jail.

Cook was being held in lieu of $2 million bond; Gunn and Bradshaw, $1.5 million bonds; and Davis, $750,000 bond.

4 charged in suburban robbery gone bad
Monday, January 25, 2010


By Sun-Times Media Wire

January 25, 2010 (WAUKEGAN) -- Four teens have been charged in connection with a robbery gone wrong that left a man critically injured last week in north suburban Waukegan.

The incident happened Thursday night, Jan. 21, in the 2000 block of Western Avenue, according to Waukegan police. Officers found a 42-year-old man seated on the ground next to his car bleeding from the head.

He had lacerations to the front and back of his head, and had suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen, a release from police said. He was taken to Vista Health-Victory Memorial Hospital East in Waukegan in critical condition.

The victim remains in critical condition Monday evening, according to police.

Witnesses said they heard a gunshot and saw several people running from the scene. An officer responding to the scene saw a subject matching a description and stopped him, noting there was blood on his clothing, the release said.

Darrius Gunn, 18, of the 2100 block of Lorraine in Waukegan, was positively identified by a witness as one of the subjects seen fleeing the scene, the release said.

Police also apprehended three other Waukegan men within 10 hours of the shooting. They were Ja'Frai D. Bradshaw, 19, of the 600 block of 2nd Street; Michael J. Cook, 19, of the 500 block of Poplar; and Christopher N. Davis, 18, of the 2200 block of Linden, the release said.

All four were charged with attempted murder, armed robbery and aggravated battery with a firearm, the release said.

Cook was ordered held on $2 million bond; Gunn and Bradshaw were ordered held on $1.5 million bond each; and Davis was ordered held on $750,000, the release said. All four remain in custody at the Lake County Jail.

Detectives determined the suspects intended to rob the victim after they saw him sitting in his car. After taking his cell phone, Cook allegedly shot the man as he and the others fled, the release said.

The victim's cell phone was recovered from one of the suspects, and the weapon used in the incident -- a .22 caliber sawed-off rifle -- was recovered from another suspect, according to police.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire - Copyright Chicago Sun-Times 2010.)

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can't wait for they mommas to come out and say what good church-going boys they all are

Bravo!!! Jasmin, How much longer will we tolerate the disrespect that is so apparent on our public streets, on a daily basis. Harold Beadling

Oh my.

I hope the victim is all right and well.

I hope the crooks get what they deserve!!!

Has Waukegan become so dangerous that an adult cannot even sit inside there car before midnight in a residential part of this city (which is not
a problem neighborhood) and be attacked? Allegedly attacked by a wandering group of urban nomads, one of whom was weilding a gun and used it?
Now the 42 yr old man is lying in critical condition in the hospital?

This in the depth of winter? What will the heat of summer bring?

I wonder if this alleged attack was "gang related", as these newspaper articles make no mention of this.

Also, I wonder if the man alleged attacked had some connection with those who allegedly attacked him?

I wonder if we who live here will ever hear the full story about this very disturbing and frightening incident, reported in the banner headline
story on the front page of The News-Sun on January 27,2010.

This kind of story has a huge, negative effect how Waukegan is viewed by many others in our region about even wanting to come here.
This is a fact, like it or not. Waukegan has a huge PR problem because many do not feel as though they would be safe in this city.

You have to wonder, with stories like this, are they right?

Isn't it about time for We The People to pressure our elected state representatives and senators to reassess their unconstitutional bias against our God-given rights to protect our families and get busy with crafting conceal/carry-- shall issue legislation, like many other states in our union presently have? Statistics show a substantial drop in violent crime in those states. Of course, in order to secure a permit, one would have to show knowledge of, and proficiency with, their firearms. Lessons, anyone? Harold Beadling

Wt Reader. While shocking, this type of crime can and does happen all the time in towns across the country. It was an amature crime. The dumbass guys who did it exposed their faces, shot the guy but did not determine he was dead and took a cell phone which is traceable. They were punks looking for some fast cash who really did not know how to commit a crime. It was a crime of opportunity. They saw the victim and reacted.While the situation is horrible it is the sign of the cruddy economic times. I don't it necessarily means more and more of this will happen.

Harold Wrote:Isn't it about time for We The People to pressure our elected state representatives and senators to reassess their unconstitutional bias against our God-given rights to protect our families and get busy with crafting conceal/carry-- shall issue legislation, like many other states in our union presently have? Statistics show a substantial drop in violent crime in those states. Of course, in order to secure a permit, one would have to show knowledge of, and proficiency with, their firearms. Lessons, anyone? Harold Beadling

I received the following email from the NRA today.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The NRA needs your help - on Tuesday, February 2 - to protect your gun
rights and hunting heritage in the Republican primary election in the
tenth congressional district of Illinois.

State Representative Elizabeth Coulson, an opponent of the Second
Amendment, is a candidate for the GOP nomination in this open
congressional seat. Beth Coulson was elected to the Illinois House of
Representatives in 1996 when she refused to answer our state candidate
questionnaire. Coulson has since earned an "F" rating by the NRA for
six consecutive elections including this year for her consistent record
of supporting gun control legislation and opposing pro-gun reforms.
Among many other issues over the past thirteen legislative sessions,
Coulson has voted against law-abiding homeowners protecting their family
with a firearm, for allowing warrantless searches of legal gun owners
and for requiring state registration of all firearms. A vote for Beth
Coulson is a vote against the Second Amendment. That's why it's
critically important for you and every freedom-loving voter in Illinois'
tenth congressional district to vote against Beth Coulson.

In contrast, two candidates in the Republican primary election - Arie
Friedman and Dick Green - have provided pro-gun responses to our federal
candidate questionnaire indicating that they support your Second
Amendment rights. The other four candidates in this race - Patricia
Bird, Beth Coulson, Robert Dold and Paul Hamann - refused to complete
and return our federal candidate questionnaire: an indication of
indifference, if not outright hostility, to your Second Amendment
rights.

Vote against Beth Coulson for Congress on Tuesday, February 2, and
encourage all of your family, friends, and fellow hunters and shooters
to do the same! The future of our Second Amendment rights depends on
it!
___________________________________________________________________

I am so very proud that our elected leaders here in Illinois, the "Land of Lincoln", have the good common sense to forbade persons in this state to go about with legal permits for the concealing and carrying of guns.

We here in Illinois refuse to go along with the "Wild West" mentality that the NRA endorses. We pay taxes to have peace officers of the law deal with the criminal element, with considerable experience how to use guns, when to use guns and most importantly when not to use guns.

Legalizing the concealing and carrying of guns does not curb gun violence, it proliferates it. Like a proliferation of nuclear weapons..the world needs fewer WMD, not more.

Same with hand guns. No other major democracy in the world allows for its citizens to legally conceal and carry guns. Not the UK, not Germany, not France, not the Netherlands, not Norway, not Sweden and the list goes on and on. As the late great, legendary Senator Ted Kennedy said "I won't yield to anyone about guns in our society. I know enough about it."

The same countries cited above that also have national health care for their citizens, unlike we do here in the USA, where the "party of no" will not permit the blessings of good health for all the American People.

Anyone see a common thread between the keen desire the few have to legally conceal and carry guns and the keen desire the few have to defeat national health care for our citizens? The common thread is both are life-negating. Yet the Good Book in Deuteronomy 30:19 says "choose life, that you and your children may live."

In the final analysis, in this pilgrammage called life, there has been and always will be the struggle between those who seek to negate life and those who seek to affirm life. Never give up the good fight for the affirmation of life, for as the late Senator Ted Kennedy said shortly before his death "the work begins anew, hope rises again and the dream lives on."