Avondale

A suspected mail thief sped away from Chicago police at nearly 75 mph, ran a red light, and crashed into another car, killing a man on the Northwest Side earlier this year, prosecutors said as they filed charges against the man.

Chicago police have released surveillance footage of four people they are trying to identify in connection with the fatal beating of 25-year-old Xander Kazanowski in Avondale last month, and the newly revealed video appears to confirm investigators’ belief that the events leading to his death may have begun at a nearby bar.

Chicago police are continuing to investigate the death of Alexander Kazanowski, a 25-year-old Avondale man who died days after being found badly beaten on a street corner in the Northwest Side neighborhood last week. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled his death a homicide, caused by head trauma suffered during an assault.

Prosecutors say a 33-year-old woman used a fabricated story about her child needing insulin to lure victims into her vehicle and take hundreds of dollars on the North Side, including one encounter that escalated into a physical struggle in which her 12-year-old daughter joined in by punching the victim.

A crew of auto thieves pulled guns on three Chicago firefighters who confronted them as they broke into a fire department member’s car outside an Avondale firehouse on Thanksgiving morning, according to Chicago police.

A 25-year-old man has been charged with murder in connection with the fatal stabbing of a woman in Avondale earlier this week.

A 55-year-old woman was fatally stabbed inside her Avondale home on Wednesday afternoon, and Chicago police are investigating whether the killing was domestic-related.

An armed smash-and-grab crew struck a GameStop in Avondale before fleeing in two vehicles, one of which hit a CPD officer, early Thursday morning. An officer fired shots during the chaos, and a multi-district police chase ensued before being terminated in the West Loop. COPA is investigating the incident as an officer-involved shooting.