A federal choose on Thursday sentenced a 38-year-old man to just about 5 years in jail for firing a gun throughout a shootout throughout from Wrigley Area final 12 months.
Raphael Hammond, of Chicago, was sentenced to 57 months in federal jail by U.S. District Decide Lindsay Jenkins after pleading responsible to being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Prosecutors mentioned Hammond was on federal supervised launch for a previous gun conviction when he pulled out a Ruger pistol and fired towards a fleeing SUV within the early morning hours of Might 5, 2024.
“He engaged in a shoot-out throughout the road from Wrigley Area,” prosecutors mentioned bluntly in a sentencing memorandum.
Surveillance video captured the chaotic sequence that started when a gunman in a crimson floral hoodie exited a darkish SUV and opened hearth on Hammond at shut vary. Hammond bumped into the bowling alley however then returned moments later, capturing a number of occasions down the sidewalk towards the automobile because it sped away. Two bystanders have been injured within the shootout, however Hammond was not accused of inflicting these accidents.
Hammond hid his gun in a planter throughout from the ballpark, waved down Chicago cops to help his wounded buddy, after which quietly left the scene. Officers later recovered the pistol from the planter and decided it had been fired a number of occasions.
Prosecutors mentioned Hammond’s life has been outlined by weapons and gunfire: “From being recognized by a gunshot sufferer because the shooter in 2006, to being a gunshot sufferer himself a minimum of 4 occasions, to convictions for unlawful gun possession in 2008 and 2018.”
“Regardless of capturing them, being shot himself, and spending time in each state and federal jail for possessing them, on Might 5, 2024, [he again] possessed a gun, after which shot it at somebody, endangering the lives of everybody within the neighborhood,” prosecutors wrote of their sentencing memorandum.
Prosecutors urged the choose to impose a 100-month sentence, calling Hammond a “important risk to public security” whose “abject callousness” in working down a busy road, capturing at a fleeing automobile, confirmed disregard for human life.
Hammond’s legal professional, Patrick Boyle, sought a 42-month sentence, 15 months lower than the bottom sentence underneath federal tips.
“Raphael Hammond is a well mannered, respectful, and considerate 38-year-old man,” Boyle argued.
The submitting described Hammond as a traumatized gunshot survivor who grew up within the Cabrini-Inexperienced housing tasks, misplaced each dad and mom by age 5, and endured a lifetime of violence that included 4 shootings earlier than the Wrigleyville incident.
He argued Hammond’s response that evening was a “split-second determination pushed by worry” after years of dwelling in survival mode. Hammond’s household submitted letters of assist to the court docket. A kind of letters got here from Hammond’s 18-year-old son, Steven, who was himself shot to loss of life in Uptown on September 26.
Decide Jenkins finally imposed a 57-month sentence, the low finish of the federal guideline vary, adopted by three years of supervised launch.
