Joliet's 15 Homicides In 2020, Here's Where They Happened (2024)

Violent crime around the city of Joliet has dropped substantially since the fall. Joliet hasn't had a homicide since late October.

Posted Sun, Jan 17, 2021 at 11:35 pm CT|Updated Tue, Jan 19, 2021 at 5:45 pm CT

Overall, the number of city homicides is down slightly from 2019 when Joliet police responded to 19 homicides across the city.

Two of Joliet's homicides last year involved double murders, one in February and another in April.

The February crime resulted in double murder charges against 41-year-old Tommie McDonald. The second double homicide, at one of the apartment units on Parkwood Drive, left four people shot. Police quickly made two arrests, but neither of those codefendants were charged with the two homicides. Two Joliet brothers previously sought by the Will County Crimestoppers have not been charged in connection with the slayings.

In one other city homicide, Joliet police arrested 18-year-old Jimmy Baker on multiple weapons crimes. However, Baker was not charged with murder because prosecutors revealed in court that that 16-year-old homicide victim Pedro Zabala Jr. fired his gun first, prompting Baker to return the gunfire, leaving Zabala dead on the neighborhood sidewalk.

Incidentally, Zabala's father, Pedro Zabala, has remained in the Will County Jail since his arrest in October 2018 in connection with the homicide of Ashley Tucker, 25, whose burned remains were recovered from a burn barrel on the outskirts of Joliet around Lockport Township.

Here's summary of all the city of Joliet homicides investigated by police. This list does not include ones handled outside city limits by the Will County Sheriff's Office.

January 2020: No city of Joliet homicides

Joliet homicide No. 1:

Feb. 7:

Victim: Jeremiah Frazier, 17,
Where: 200 block of Republic Avenue, city's west side
Arrests: Jeremiah Gavin, 22, has been charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery and being a convicted felon who was using a gun. Rasean Stokes, 18, was charged with murder and aggravated discharge of a gun. Javontae Gray, 22, has been charged with obstructing justice and reckless discharge of a gun. The noon-hour shootout involved two cars on Republic Avenue.

Joliet homicides No. 2 and No. 3

Feb. 26:

Two victims: Bernard Marble, 53, and Tracy Williams, 45,
Where: Fifth Avenue and South Chicago Street, city's southeast side.
Arrests: Tommie McDonald has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder as well as being an armed habitual criminal.

"During the course of the investigation, officers were able to determine that McDonald was inside the vehicle along with Williams and Marble. An argument ensued and at one point McDonald shot both Williams and Marble," Joliet Police announced.

March: no homicides

Joliet homicides No. 4 and No. 5

April 25

Two victims: Treshon Holland, 24, and Treveal Barefield, 18.
Where: Inside upstairs apartment building at 1112 Parkwood Drive, Joliet's east side.
Arrests: Nobody has been charged with the killings. Back in April, Crime Stoppers of Will County announced that Michael Frazier and Jeremiah Frazier were being sought by the Joliet Police Department in connection with the double homicide on the far east side of Joliet. Saturday's early morning shootings left four people shot. Co-defendants Terry Tenzell and Jhakiren Pickens face multiple counts of home invasion, but they are not charged with the two homicides.

Joliet homicide No. 6

April 28

Victim: Floyd Faint, 47, shot near his front entrance at 701 Francis St., Joliet's east side.
Arrests: None

April 28

Joliet homicide No. 7

Victim: Todd Taylor, 20, shot in the 300 block of Grant Avenue, Joliet's east side.
Arrests: Dartavius Payton, 24, faces three counts of first-degree homicide, and unlawful use of a weapon. The arrest was made by the Grundy County Sheriff's Office in July at a house in Diamond,Ill. Payton had lived on Reverend Walton Drive in Lockport, jail logs reflect.

May: no homicides

June 12

Joliet homicide No. 8

Victim: Derrick William-Scott, 32, 1100 block of Richards Street, Joliet's east side.
Arrests:41-year-old Nathaniel R. Hill of Crest Hill was charged with first-degree murder in the gunshot death. Williams suffered multiple gunshot wounds as he was standing on the front steps of a house around midnight, on June 12.

July 9

Joliet homicide No. 9

Victim: Vonta Perry, 24, 200 block of Lincoln Street, Joliet's east side. At 7:52 p.m. on a Thursday, officers responded to a shooting in the 200 block of Lincoln Street. On the porch, officers found a Perry suffering multiple gunshots.

Arrests: None

July 26

Joliet homicide No. 10

Victim: Pedro Zabala, 16, at the intersection of Munroe and Ottawa Streets, Joliet's southeast side.
Arrests: Jimmy Baker, 18, was charged with four counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. Baker is not being charged with murder in connection with the death of Pedro because the 16-year-old Romeoville boy fired his gun first, prompting 18-year-old Jimmy Baker to return the gunfire, Will County prosecutors revealed.

July 28

Joliet homicide No. 11

Victim: Abraham Vertiz, 17, in the 600 block of East Jackson Street, Joliet's east side. Tuesday's shooting happened around 12:45 p.m.

Arrests: None

Joliet homicide No. 12

Aug. 23

Victim: Joshua Robinson, 36, in the 600 block of Darcy Avenue, Joliet's west side. Sunday's slaying happened at 3:19 a.m. in the St. Pat's Neighborhood Area. "Officers arrived on scene, and located Joshua Robinson lying in the parkway of a private residence, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds," police said.

Arrests: None

Joliet homicide No. 13

Sep. 3

Victim: Jermaine Pettigrew, 42, in the 300 block of Pine Street, Joliet's west side.

Arrests: First-degree murder charges have been filed against 36-year-old Mario Noble in connection with the Sept. 3 shooting death. Pettigrew was shot in the 300 block of Pine Street, which is where Noble lives, and near the intersection of Center Street.

Joliet homicide No. 14

Sept. 27

Victim: Tre Stanley, 28, 415 South Raynor Ave., Joliet's west side.
Arrests: No arrests.

Joliet Patch reported at the time that a 28-year-old Joliet gunshot victim suffered life-threatening injuries and was airlifted from AMITA Health to the Loyola Medical Center after being shot in the head around 7 p.m. in the 400 block of South Raynor Avenue. The victim was inside a vehicle parked in a residential driveway and someone shot up the vehicle, wounding the victim, Joliet police said.

His obituary notes that Stanley died six days later, on Oct. 3, Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. Stanley was a 2011 Joliet Central High School graduate.

Joliet homicide No. 15

Oct. 26

Victim: Ivan Perez-Garcia, 25, 100 block of Seeser St., Joliet's west side.
Arrests: Four days after the slaying of the young man from Romeoville, Joliet police detectives arrested 41-year-old Joliet resident Jorge Rosas on multiple counts of murder. Rosas, the Joliet Police Department noted, now faces three counts of first-degree murder, plus charges of aggravated discharge of a gun and unlawful possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. At 12:01 a.m., Ivan Perez-Garcia was fatally shot inside his parked car in the 100 block of Seeser Street.