Boy, 16, charged in triple murder on South Side of Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A teenage boy was charged as an adult on Thursday in the shooting deaths of three people last month in the West Chatham neighborhood.
Antonio Velasco, 16, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.
Just after 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 25, police responded to a home in the 8000 block of South Vincennes Avenue, where they found four people shot.
Three of those victims died – including 14-year-old Amere Deese, 20-year-old Ladeverett West Ringgold, and an unnamed 36-year-old man – and a 16-year-old boy was seriously wounded, but expected to recover. Several other people were in the home at the time, but were not injured.
"Four lives have been changed. The victims who have been taken from their families," said Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx, "and now this young person who faces the grave consequences and the accountability for his actions."
Police said Velasco was arrested Tuesday at a relative's home in south suburban Hazel Crest, after he was identified as the shooter. At his first court appearance on Thursday, he was ordered held in jail as he awaits trial.
"In moments – in just a few moments – he forever changed the lives of surviving victims and those he killed. He has to be held accountable, period – that simple. There is no excuse for anyone to reach this level of violence," Police Supt. Larry Snelling said.
Police Chief of Detectives Antoinette Ursitti said Velasco had been welcomed into the home as the acquaintance of a young man who was friends with the family. After an "altercation" inside the home, Velasco shot all four people who were in the same room with him, and fled the scene.
Cook County prosecutors said the four victims were friends who would often hang out together at Ringgold's house, and were in his bedroom at the time of the shooting, playing with a rifle. At some point, the rifle was placed on the ground behind a TV in the bedroom.
Around 5 p.m. that day, Ringgold's mother and Deese's sister saw Velasco arrive at the home with his 13-year-old boy who was raised in his home as his brother, and they started hanging out with Ringgold and his friends in the bedroom, smoking marijuana.
A couple hours later, Velasco left the bedroom and came back with a 9mm handgun with an extended clip, and told his brother to pick up the rifle. Velasco then shot all four victims and ran off with his brother, prosecutors said.
Deese's grandmother, Cynthia Jones, was left with many questions as to why her grandson is dead. She said he and Velasco were close friends, and she has no clue what would make someone want to kill his own friend.
Jones said Velasco befriended Deese two years ago, not too long after Deese's mother died.
"This young man, they've shared clothes, food, spent the night at each other's homes. So it's just amazing to me, how could you take the life of somebody that looked up to you as a brother? As an older brother?" she said.
Jones said she had been planning to move her family out of Chicago before her grandson was killed. Now that he has been, she's speeding up that process to get out of the city.
"I've had to basically put everyone in counseling at this point. It's OK. Mom passed. Mom was ill," said Jones. "But Amere was not ill. Amere didn't pass. He was taken from us."
Ursitti said Velasco was caught on video as he fled the scene, and that footage helped detectives identify him as the shooter and obtain an arrest warrant.
Even though Velasco is 16 years old, he has been charged as an adult.
"Rightly so," Jones said. "I mean, it bothers me that you're a 16-year-old child, and you wanted to throw it all away - for what? Because that's exactly what you did."
Velasco was due back in court on April 9.