McCarthy said two other men, included one jailed on an unrelated gun charge, also were suspected of involvement in the death of Tyshawn Lee, who was shot in the middle of the afternoon near his grandmother’s house.
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Lee was in a neighborhood park in Chicago’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood when police say he was “lured” into an alley and shot multiple times.
“Shortly following the shooting, [Morgan] stated that since his brother was killed and his mother shot, he was going to kill grandmas, moms, kids and all”, prosecutors said.
Morgan was brought in for questioning but released after posting bond on a weapons charge. Just a few weeks ago, police said they picked him up with a firearm.
A Chicago man has been charged with first-degree murder in the suspected gangland shooting of a nine-year-old boy, in an attack that shocked the US.
Witnesses reported seeing Tyshawn leaving with the suspect where they walked to an alley behind Damen Avenue across from the park. Garry McCarthy called the boy’s murder an “act of barbarism”.
The Sun-Times says his death was alledgedly retaliation for the October 13 murder of Tracey Morgan, 25, the brother of Corey Morgan. It wasn’t immediately clear if the person arrested is the one who authorities believe opened fire on young Tyshawn or was involved in some other way. He was arrested on an unrelated gun charge and was released on bail earlier this week. McCarthy said that the police still needed to work out details of what happened next, such as who pulled the trigger and who drove the getaway auto. The boy’s father, Pierre Stokes, has denied being involved in a gang. That’s partly tied to tensions among law enforcement and African-Americans in Chicago, a situation that’s come to the fore this week with protests over a video showing a white officer fatally shooting black teen Laquan McDonald in 2014.
McCarthy added that the crime was so heinous Edwards is “better off if we catch him than someone else”.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel vowed earlier this month to find and prosecute Lee’s killers.
“He’s the lightning rod on this for that 9-year-old boy, that’s where it seems to be a lot of the community anger”, Kent said.
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Chief Medical Examiner Stephen J. Cina, who performed the autopsy, found evidence of gunpowder burns on the side of Tyshawn’s face, an indication that the gunman fired one shot at close range, he wrote.
