Londre Sylvester aka KTS Dre Chicago rapper shot 64 times, while leaving Cook County Jail in ambush shooting. Who wanted him dead? No arrests.
Who wanted him dead? A Chicago rapper died after incurring as many as 64 bullet wounds to his head and body in what police are calling an ambush shooting whilst being released from jail over the weekend.
Londre Sylvester, 31, also going by his stage name KTS Dre, was one of three people who were shot just outside Cook County Jail in the Little Village section of Chicago on Saturday.
The shooting took place as Sylvester was released from the jail while wearing a monitoring device on his ankle, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Sylvester was walking alongside a 60-year-old woman ‘to an awaiting vehicle when several unknown (suspects) exited two separate vehicles and all began to shoot in Sylvester’s direction, striking him numerous times in the face and chest,’ a police report stated
Investigators found at least 59 shell casings on the 2700 block of West 27th Street, which is across the street from the jail.
Armed habitual criminal
Despite being rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital, Sylvester was pronounced dead just before 9.30pm on Saturday. His next of kin were notified on Sunday.
The accompanying 60-year-old woman suffered a wound to the knee. She was listed in good condition at Stroger Hospital, according to police.
Another woman, 30, had a bullet graze the side of her face. She is said to be in good condition.
Reports described the rapper’s moniker, ‘KTS’ standing for ‘Kill To Survive,’ a phrase Sylvester had tattooed on his neck along with a target symbol.
Public records show Sylvester was arrested April 27, 2020, on charges of being a felon in possession of a weapon and resisting police. A judge ordered him held in lieu of $50,000 bail the next day. During the same hearing, Sylvester was also held without bail on a parole violation, records show. The charges were later upgraded to Class X armed habitual criminal.
He remained in sheriff’s custody for over 400 days as of Thursday, according to online sheriff’s office records.
The rapper was released after the un-named 60-year-old woman posted a $5,000 deposit bond necessary for Sylvester to go home on electronic monitoring, according to a source.
Surge in gun violence
State records show Sylvester had been sentenced to prison four times since 2010. Three of those convictions were for weapons charges.
As of late Sunday no arrests had been made.
The shooting comes as Chicago continues to grapple with a surge in violent crime over the 4th of July holiday weekend.
Statistics from the police department showed that at least 108 people were shot, 17 fatally, between July 2nd and July 4th.
Eleven children, as young as five and six, were wounded in what was the most violent weekend of the year. Two cops were among the city’s shooting victims.
The bloodshed was comparable to the long Fourth of July weekend last year, when 17 people were fatally shot and 70 more were wounded.
Chicago’s latest crime statistics show the city of 2.7 million people saw 78 murders in June according to statistics cited by the dailymail.
The numbers represent a 20 percent drop in the 98 murders it witnesses for June 2020. More than 300 people have been murdered in Chicago this year, although as of July 1, there have been six fewer murders this year than there were for the same period of 2020.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, has blamed joblessness, poverty and out-of-state gun smuggling for the ongoing violence spiral gripping the city.
