December 29, 2011 Parolee charged in murder of Chicago nightclub bouncer www.privateofficer.com
Chicago IL Dec 29 2011 A West Side man was charged with killing a nightclub bouncer and a partygoer celebrating his 30th birthday outside a bar on the Near West Side early Christmas Day.
Taiwan Smith, 26, of the 3200 block of West Arthington, was charged with two counts of murder, aggravated battery and unlawful use of a weapon in connection with the shooting outside the Victor Hotel nightclub in the 300 block of North Sangamon, police said.
Bouncer Robert Warren, 34, and factory worker Jose Duckins, 30, were both killed in the gunfire, officials said. A third man was wounded.
The suspect had been thrown out of the club earlier that night, but returned and “just started shooting,” according to police and Warren’s niece, April Bullock.
Her uncle, of the 7300 block of North Damen, “was just doing his job and he was killed for no reason,” Bullock said. “He had kids — we’re all in shock.”
Duckins, of the 3600 block of West Franklin, had gone to the club with four or five friends to celebrate his birthday, his distraught little sister Voshunda Duckins said Sunday. He was shot at close range in the chest, relatives said. Both he and Warren — who was also shot in the chest — were declared dead at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County.
A 21-year-old friend of Duckins survived the shooting with a bullet wound to his arm. He was treated and released at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago police spokesman John Mirabelli said.
Duckins had bought his 4-year-old son Jose Jr. a remote control car, clothes and Transformers toys for Christmas, his sister said as relatives mourned Sunday at the family home.
“He was a loving family man,” she said. “He was expecting another child and he didn’t deserve this.”
Smith has been convicted on several drug and weapons-related convictions dating back to 2003, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections. He was paroled in June after serving nearly three years of a six-year sentence for his most recent conviction, for narcotics possession.
Smith is scheduled to appear in bond court later Tuesday.
Source:Chicago Sun Times
Tags: Bouncer Robert Warren, Parolee charged in murder of Chicago nightclub bouncer, Taiwan Smith
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