West Side Man Shot And Killed Is Chicago's First Homicide Of 2015
By Jon Graef in News on Jan 4, 2015 7:00PM
A man shot and killed while standing on a sidewalk in Chicago's West Side Austin neighborhood became the city's first murder of 2015 early Sunday morning.
According to multiple media outlets, Randy James heard shots around 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning. James then reportedly realized he himself had been shot in the abdomen, after which he drove himself to a local hospital. He was then transferred to Stroger Hospital, and, roughly four hours after he had been wounded, James died just before six in the morning. He was 39 years old. No other details were available.
James was one of 11 people who have been shot so far this weekend. Other shootings, none of which were fatal, took place in Bronzeville, North Lawndale, and Ashburn, amongst other neighborhoods.
In 2014, the first person shot and killed was a 30-year-old man from the Roseland neighborhood. Family members described Ronald Sawyer as "the glue" that kept them together.
Last year, the Austin neighborhood had 36 homicides and 175 people who were wounded in shootings.
Chicago officially tallied 407 murders in 2014, a number which may increase depending on which "death investigations" are reclassified as homicides. Murders decreased from 2013, but shootings increased by 14 percent. One can hope that 2015 brings a respite to the city's meaningless shooting violence. One shooting death is one too many.