A South Side neighborhood where neighbors say residential blocks are relatively quiet, with mostly sounds from children outside playing, was rocked Wednesday when five people were found shot to death inside a home.
A home in the Chatham neighborhood in the 7600 block of South Rhodes Avenue was the scene of a backyard barbeque Tuesday that lasted into the wee hours of the night. When one of the attendees returned to the home the next day, she found the back door ajar and the music blasting. She went inside, saw her friends %uFFFD%uFFFD three men and two women dead and called 911. Police arrived at the scene at 3:44 p.m. It has not been determined when the killings took place, but a source said a neighbor heard gunshots about 2:30 a.m., but did not call police. Shortly after police arrived, so did friends and relatives of the victims, all trying to figure out what happened. “That’s my daughter, that’s my daughter,” Cheryl Flowers said with tears streaming down her eyes after she arrived about a block away from the scene. Flowers received a call stating that her daughter Whitney Flowers, 22, who lived in the residence with her boyfriend, was one of the victims. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed Thursday that Flowers was one of the victims. The other victims, all in their 20s, are Lakesha Boss, Reginald Walker, Donovan Richardson and Anthony Scales Jr. Boss, Richardson and Walker were shot in the head, Flowers and Scales sustained multiple gunshot wounds, according to the medical examiner’s office. Richardson also lived in the home. Multiple people may be behind the killings, due to the extensive ransacked-nature the home was in when the bodies were discovered, Calumet Area Cmdr. Eddie Welch said, adding that the victims were “targeted.” “Due to the evidence that was found in the house, it does appear that it was something that was definitely planned. There is no killer running in the neighborhood,” Welch said. It is unclear whether anything was taken from the home, according to police, but neighbors said they saw electronic items being hauled away from the home before the bodies were discovered. Welch said several tips and clues have surfaced, but police have not named any suspects. Friends of the victims speculate that robbery could be the motive because Richardson drove an expensive car and wore expensive clothes. Jonathan Williams, 24, a friend of Richardson’s, was visibly distraught, and in disbelief, about the murders. “These are like people I am planning my future with and they’re dead. They weren’t bad people. Donovan was an entrepreneur. He just liked to have nice things and have fun.” Police are also looking into several neighbors’ allegations that the home doubled as a hot spot of fun during late night hours, including prostitution. The mass murders are the second incident of its kind in the last decade. In 2003, a man went into an auto parts warehouse on the South Side and killed six people.
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