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Quad-City homicide is 17th in 9 months

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By Dustin Lemmon | Friday, July 28, 2006 5:04 PM CDT | () comments

A shooting that resulted Thursday in an East Moline man’s slaying and a Rock Island man’s arrest for murder less than 24 hours later is the latest in string of violent Quad-City deaths dating to November.

Michael M. Jones, 25, of East Moline, died after he was shot in the torso about 6 p.m. Wednesday at 151/2 Avenue between 4th and 41/2 streets in the Century Woods housing complex on Rock Island’s west side. He died early Thursday at an area hospital.

Jason J. Thompson, 22, of Rock Island, was arrested Thursday afternoon and charged in Rock Island County Circuit Court with a single count of murder.

Police would not release details on how the two men knew each other or what led to the slaying, but an argument apparently preceded the shooting. Anyone with additional information is urged to call Rock Island police at (309) 732-2677 or Quad-City Crimestoppers at (309) 762-9500.

Jones’ death marks the 17th homicide in the Quad-City metro area since early November, a span of about nine months.

Rock Island Police Chief John Wright said the last time the Quad-City area saw such a spate of homicides was in the early 1990s when his city in particular had numerous gang-related slayings — a total of 29 from 1991 to 1993. He said those types of crimes were not as difficult for police to act on and that gang violence was easier to target.

“In the ’90s, you could take great steps to curb the gang violence,” he said. “It’s difficult for law enforcement alone to stop this. It’s going to take a coalition of everyone. The criminal justice system is only one part of the puzzle.

“We’re not seeing any one specific cause,” he said of the deaths. “You’re getting the whole gamut of different things, from robberies that have gone bad to domestic violence to mercy killings.”

Bettendorf Police Chief Phil Redington said statistics he has studied show violent crime is up across the country. His department investigated a murder-suicide Saturday that was the city’s first homicide in a decade.

“Those crimes are very difficult to prevent, so it’s very hard for law enforcement to work on those crimes versus others like burglaries and vandalisms,” he said. “We need public support for anything unusual to be reported to police. I think it’s important for law enforcement to know what they’re looking for.”

Davenport Police Chief Mike Bladel said homicides and other major acts of violence usually involve people who know one another, making it harder for police to prevent the crime by following trends or investigating similar incidents.

“They’re usually spontaneous and very sudden,” he said of homicides. “They’re very hard to predict and prevent.”

Bladel said police try to react by putting more officers on patrol in areas that have a history of problems, but that is not always enough.

“You follow up on everything you can,” he said. “You go after the guns on the street. All of those things tend to help, but the reality is most homicides are committed by someone the victim knows.”

Dustin Lemmon can be contacted at (563) 383-2493 or dlemmon@qctimes.com.