On Friday CPD Superintendent Garry McCarthy said that Corey Morgan, 27, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
Advertisement
Police said Lee had been playing basketball in a park when gang members approached him, engaged in conversation, and walked Lee into an alley, where he was shot.
Superintendent McCarthy also reported that a warrant has been issued for the arrest of Kevin Edwards, 22. Chicago police announce charges in murder of Tyshawn LeeInvestigators had been questioning Morgan in the case.
Investigators say “at least” three people were involved with the incident.
Morgan was detained again a fortnight later on an apparently unrelated weapons charge. The video was not released until this week after the police officer was charged with murder.
Police said Tyshawn was killed by Morgan and two gang cohorts.
McCarthy vowed on Friday to destroy both gangs involved in the shooting.
“The US city is notorious for gun crime, but Tyshawn Lee’s November 2 death managed to horrify a Chicago already reeling from more than 450 murders this year”.
“Quite frankly, in a heinous crime like this, he’s probably better off if we catch than somebody else”, he said. But the fatal shot hit him on the right side of his head.
“There was a lot of fear”, he said, praising the community for coming forward with information.
“All three (suspects) are in the same gang”, McCarthy told reporters.
Tyshawn Lee, 9, was shot and killed in a South Side alley Monday afternoon. “If you have a monster who’s willing to assassinate a 9-year-old, what is that person likely to do if they know that somebody’s cooperating with the case?”
Chicago began being called the murder capital of the United States after it registered 503 homicides in 2012, more than any other city.
McCarthy said they believe that Edwards, the wanted suspect, was still in the area and urged the man to turn himself in.
Advertisement
But Tyshawn’s father, 25-year-old Pierre Stokes, disputed authorities’ characterization of him, telling the Chicago Tribune that no one would have a motive to hurt him – and that if someone did, he would not target his son.
