Four of eight men slain Wednesday on police at-risk list

Dan Rance was marked to die, authorities believe.

The 23-year-old was one of the eight men shot to death Wednesday in Chicago — the deadliest day in the city since 2003.

But he was also on a Chicago Police Department list of people considered to be at the greatest risk in the city of getting murdered by gunfire or shooting someone else.

Recently, police officials visited Rance’s home to let him know he was on the list and offer help in turning his life around, said Anthony Guglielmi, a police spokesman.

“They tried to warn him and his family that he could potentially become a victim of gun violence — and they did not heed the warning,” Guglielmi said.

Rance and three of the other men killed Wednesday were on the same “Strategic Subject List” of about 30,000 people the police department deems at risk of becoming victims or offenders, Guglielmi said.

Those four men were not only on the list but also were thought to be in particularly grave danger, Guglielmi said.

“They were pretty close to the bull’s-eye,” he said. “We were aware of who they were.”

The eight murders Wednesday happened in neighborhoods across the city. Most of the victims were felons and had moved in networks of people who resolve their disputes with guns, according to police officials and court records.

Homicides and nonfatal shooting incidents have been on the rise this year, as they have been in many other cities, including New York. Murder was up about 20 percent this year in Chicago through Aug. 23 compared to the same period of 2014.

Rance, a felon on parole for a drug conviction, was killed near his home in the 700 block of North Long, police said. He died of bullet wounds to the chest and torso. His family could not be reached for comment.

Vuan Evans, a 25-year-old man on the department’s at-risk list, was shot to death at 9 a.m. in the 2600 block of East 74^th Place, police said. He received probation in 2008 on a robbery conviction and more than three years in prison in 2012 for being a felon in possession of a gun.

Two others on the list — Robert Anderson, 34, and Michael Gibbs, 32 — were killed by gunfire at 2:15 a.m. in the 500 block of North Winthrop. Anderson and Gibbs were convicted felons, too, records show.

Cook County prosecutors have charged Michael Laster, 28, and Jonathan Thompson, 33, with the murders of Anderson and Gibbs.

Laster and Thompson are also on the Strategic Subject List, Guglielmi said. Laster is on parole for a drug conviction, and Thompson is on parole for aggravated battery, state prison records show.

Anderson, Gibbs, Laster and Thompson have 130 arrests among them — which police Supt. Garry McCarthy mentioned on WLS-AM’s “Connected to Chicago” program scheduled to air 7 p.m. Sunday.

“Repeat offenders are constantly the individuals who are committing murders, and the same cadre of people who are offenders today become victims tomorrow,” he said, repeating his call for sentencing reform.

“I think we need to lighten up on the narcotics laws and stiffen up the gun laws,” McCarthy said.

The superintendent — who called Wednesday “a really bad day” — said the suspected motives for the eight murders vary. Three appear to be gang-related, three seem to have involved personal disputes and two appear to be drug-related, he said.

Detectives have a strong lead in Evans’ killing, Guglielmi noted.

Contributing: Fran Spielman