24 Shot, 2 Killed In Weekend Violence

Police tape lines the outside an apartment building in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Tim Boyle/Getty Images)

In the Saturday and Sunday preceding Labor Day, 24 people were shot across Chicagoland, two fatally.

Jeffrey Smith, 38, of the 5100 block of South Marshfield Avenue, was found dead in the driver's seat of his vehicle parked near Warren Elementary School around 3 a.m. Sunday, CBS Chicago reports.

About two hours later, 45-year-old Yolanda Holmes was found shot to death in her Uptown apartment at Broadway and Montrose, according to WLS. A man with lacerations to his face was also in the apartment, but no one is in custody in connection with Holmes' or Smith's shootings.

Twenty four people were injured in shootings around the city, including a robbery attempt in River North where a 25-year-old man was shot in the leg, and an apparently gang-related shooting in Belmont Craigin that left a 22-year-old in critical condition, authorities told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Around 10:45 p.m. Sunday, four people, including an 11-year-old girl, were wounded when a gunman opened fire on a family party in Pill Hill on Chicago's South Side, the Chicago Tribune reports. The girl suffered a graze wound to the left calf, a 51-year-old woman was wounded in the buttocks, an 18-year-old man was struck in the right elbow and a 16-year-old boy was shot in the back. All were hospitalized, but were listed in good condition by 3 a.m. Monday.

Not included in this weekend's tally was the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Jalen Stogner Friday afternoon. The teen was shot in the back in front of a laundromat on the South Side after an altercation with another man in the parking lot escalated to violence.

At least seven people were wounded in shootings citywide Friday evening into early Saturday in Chicago, NBC Chicago reports.

Earlier Friday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy announced that 50 federal agents will be joining Chicago police and the Department of Justice to expand the city's violence reduction initiative. Emanuel and McCarthy say the new initiative has already been effective in two of Chicago's most crime-ridden police districts.

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Officer Robbed And Killed After Shift

Rafael Jones is accused of killing Philadelphia police officer Moses Walker, Jr.

PHILADELPHIA -- Police charged a convicted felon Friday in the slaying of a Philadelphia police officer who was robbed and killed on his way home from work, and urged a suspected teenage accomplice to surrender.

Both men have prior arrest records, and the alleged shooter had served at least two years in prison on gun charges, court records show.

Rafael Jones, 23, was charged with murder, robbery, conspiracy and other counts in the slaying last weekend of veteran Officer Moses Walker Jr. Jones had been arrested earlier in the week on an alleged parole violation.

Police identified the other man seen on surveillance video, who is still being sought, as 19-year-old Chancier McFarland of North Philadelphia.

"I don't think you want our fugitive task force or our SWAT team to come and get you," Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey warned McFarland.

Walker, 40, had changed into street clothes after an overnight shift and was walking to a bus stop at about 6 a.m. Saturday when two men crossed the street and tried to rob him. Walker had time only to draw his gun before he was shot in the chest, stomach and arm, authorities said.

The robbery attempt mirrored several other armed holdups in the area in the last few months, police said.

Funeral services are set for Monday for Walker, who was not married and had no children. News reports have described him as a devoted member of his church. He had spent 19 years in the police department, nearly all of them in the North Philadelphia neighborhood where he was killed.

Ramsey described Walker's relatives, including his mother and a nephew, as "elated" by news of Jones' arrest. He is also survived by five siblings.

"They also know we have one more person to bring into custody, so we are not finished yet," Ramsey said. "At least there is some measure of relief."

Jones served at least two years in prison on 2007 gun charges. Robbery and bodily injury charges that were initially filed in the case were later withdrawn. It was not immediately clear if he has a lawyer in the murder case. He had previously been represented by the Philadelphia public defender's office, which does not comment on clients.

Ramsey called Jones "a violent thug" and said he hopes the court system puts him away this time "for the rest of his miserable life."

Defense lawyer Jeff Muldawer, who was court-appointed to represent McFarland on misdemeanor drug charges filed in April, said his client's first name is Chancies, not Chancier. That case is set for trial on Sept. 7. McFarland had posted $8,000 bail.

"I felt the earlier case was a winnable case," Muldawer said Friday.

McFarland had also spent time in juvenile detention, court records show.

The city, the police union and others had posted a reward of more than $100,000 as police searched for Walker's killers. Ramsey called the reward helpful to investigators, but said it was not the only reason people came forward with information.

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4 Killed, 13 Wounded In Shootings On Another Violent Night

Four people were killed and more than a dozen others wounded in shootings Friday evening into Saturday in Chicago, continuing the trend of surging gun violence in the United States' third-largest city.

One day after 13 people were wounded in shootings over a half-hour in Chicago, at least another 17 people were shot as the city experienced a violent start to the weekend, the Chicago Tribune reports.

(Scroll down to watch a HuffPost Live segment on gun violence in Chicago.)

Lucian Dreux, 17, the youngest of the four fatalities overnight, was gunned down early in the evening near the intersection of 79th Street and Drexel Avenue in the city's South Side Chatham neighborhood, the Tribune reports. He was pronounced dead at 6:25 p.m.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the boy had been standing with a 42-year-old woman around 5:42 p.m. when someone riding past them on a mountain bike opened fire. The woman was shot in the thigh and taken to Stroger Hospital in good condition.

Just minutes later and about seven miles north, around 5:45 p.m., Noah Cruz, 30, was shot in the chest in the 3000 block of South Wallace Street in Bridgeport. He was pronounced dead shortly thereafter at Stroger Hospital, NBC Chicago reports.

Another of the overnight fatal shootings took place mere blocks from President Obama's Chicago home around 2:30 a.m. Saturday, CBS Chicago notes. Stephin Williams, 23, was fatally shot when two men approached his car in the 4900 block of South Drexel in the city's Kenwood neighborhood and announced a robbery.

Williams, who was with his girlfriend in the car, confronted the men and was shot multiple times, the station reports. He was pronounced dead at 3:10 a.m. at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Phillip McCall, 34, was shot six times in the 8800 block of South Prairie Avenue in the city's West Chesterfield neighborhood about 8 p.m. Friday, according to the Tribune. He died at Stroger Hospital.

Among those wounded by gunfire was a 15-year-old girl listed in critical condition Saturday, ABC Chicago reports. The Sun-Times has a full listing of non-fatal shootings Friday night into early Saturday in Chicago.

Previously, 19 people were shot Thursday night into early Friday in Chicago, 13 of the shootings which took place over the course of 30 minutes. The previous weekend, the city tied its highest number of homicides in one day this year when six people were killed on Aug. 18. That weekend also saw at least 36 additional non-fatal shootings citywide.

As of Aug. 20, homicides in Chicago this month already surpassed August 2011 numbers. As of the end of July, homicides this year at up about 27 percent over the previous year.

Gun violence in Chicago was the subject of a recent segment on HuffPost Live, which featured a panel of activists and journalists including Father Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Church weighing in on what has been a violent summer in the Windy City.

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Teacher Tries To Skip Work By Saying He Killed A Girl

Music teacher Derek McGlone, 42, lied to school officials, saying that he had just run over a girl with his car, in order to get off work for the day.

There's faking sick, and then there's telling your employers that you just killed a small child.

42-year-old teacher Derek McGlone was well known at Calderhead High School in Scotland for making up stories to get out of work, the Telegraph reports. At an August 1 hearing of the General Teaching Council Scotland (GTCS), McGlone admitted to lying on a number of occasions between June 2008 and May 2011.

In his most egregious fabrication, the music teacher told school officials that he had just run over a little girl with his car, according to UPI.

"He said he felt his car wheels running over her body," Calderhead High School head Joyce Kilmartin wrote in an official statement.

On another occasion, McGlone called from his home in Glasgow, claiming he was stuck in a volcanic ash cloud in Iceland.

At the Council, McGlone took heat not only for his lies, but for his reaction to being reported. After discovering that some of his colleagues at Calderhead had made statements about his conduct to the GTCS in April 2011, McGlone went on a "drunken rant" over Facebook. He admitted to the Council panel that he referred to his coworkers as "bitches" and wrote that he would "hunt them down," according to the Scottish Sun.

McGlone resigned later that year, the Mirror reports, but now says he wants to return to teaching.

"I can give no reasonable explanation for my actions," he told the Council, adding that he was "embarrassed and sorry."

The hearing panel concluded that McGlone's behavior "falls short the standards expected of a registered teacher." He received a reprimand that will remain on his record for 12 months.

The GTCS is an independent professional body with duties that include maintaining educational standards and keeping a registry of teachers in Scotland.

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