Teen charged with murder in fatal 2021 shooting of Simeon High School student in Hyde Park
CHICAGO (CBS) – A 17-year-old was ordered held without bond Wednesday afternoon, after he was charged with a double shooting that left a Simeon Career Academy High School student dead in Hyde Park last year.
Amare Weatherspoon is charged with one count each of first-degree murder and aggravated battery in the shooting that left 15-year-old Kentrell McNeal dead and a 14-year-old boy critically wounded on Sept. 21, 2021.
Cook County prosecutors said Kentrell, the 14-year-old, and three friends parked at a gas pump at the BP gas station at 52nd and Lake Park that day, when they crossed paths with Weatherspoon, a Kenwood Academy High School student, who was with two of his friends. The two groups "exchanged looks" before Weatherspoon and his friends crossed the street to the nearby McDonald's, and Kentrell and his friends got back into their vehicle and pulled onto Lake Park Avenue.
As they drove away, Weatherspoon fired several shots at the car, and fled the scene on foot, according to prosecutors. The shooting was caught on surveillance video, and multiple witnesses identified Weatherspoon as the shooter.
Kentrell was shot in the head, and the 14-year-old was shot in the leg. A friend drove both of them to Comer Children's Hospital, where Kentrell was pronounced dead. The 14-year-old was critically wounded, but has since recovered.
The teenager was his mother's only child, and she had signed him up for the basketball program at the Chicago City Life Center in Washington Park to keep him safe. Pastor Charles Moodie said the day after the shooting that Kentrell had a "real big heart" and the "heart of a lion."
Moodie offers the Chicago City Life Center gym to various teams as neutral, non-gang grounds.
"Young people can come from all over a find a safe haven here," Moodie said.
Meantime, an warrant was issued for Weatherspoon's arrest on Sept. 30, 2021, and he turned himself in on Tuesday, according to prosecutors.
Weatherspoon is due back in court on Nov. 1.