Prosecutors: 9-year-old was on swing when killers approached
CHICAGO -- Prosecutors say that Tyshawn Lee was on a playground swing on Nov. 2, when a basketball the 9-year-old left on the ground was picked up by one of the three men responsible for his death.
That man, prosecutors wrote in court documents filed today, "picked up Tyshawn's basketball and began dribbling it a few times before giving it back to Tyshawn."
"Tyshawn and this individual were then seen walking off together, out of the park," they wrote in the document. A black SUV allegedly carrying 27-year-old Corey Morgan and one other suspect followed the man and the boy into an alley, where Tyshawn suffered gun shot wounds to the head and back, as well as defensive wounds to his right hand, "from trying to block the gunshot," prosecutors wrote.
Morgan was charged Friday with murder in Tyshawn's death. He was denied bond in the case. An additional suspect is currently in custody on an unrelated charge, and police are searching for the third suspect.
At a press conference Friday, Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said investigators believe the boy was targeted as revenge for previous incidents that allegedly involved the boy's father. McCarthy said Tyshawn's death was the latest in at least three murders tied to strife between two gangs.
"It was an act of barbarism, the assassination of a nine-year-old child, as a gang retaliation to get back at his father," McCarthy said. The boy's father has repeatedly denied any involvement.
Morgan's brother, Tracy, was shot and killed on Oct. 13, and his mother was wounded in the shooting, according to prosecutors.
"Shortly after the shooting (Morgan) stated that since his brother was killed and his mama was shot he was going to kill grandmas, mamas, kids and all," prosecutors wrote in the document filed Friday.
They say on Nov. 2, the three suspects got in an SUV and drove to Dawes park "looking for retaliation."
Police are also searching for a man named Kevin Edwards, who McCarthy said will also face murder charges. Investigators have been looking for Edwards for weeks.
"He's definitely underground, he knows we're looking for him, everybody knows we're looking for him," McCarthy said.
A third suspect in the case is currently being held on unrelated charges. It is unclear if that suspect is Dwight Boone-Doty, who was arrested with Morgan earlier this month when the two men were found in Oak Lawn, Ill., with loaded .40-caliber semi-automatic handguns.
Police said Friday that those weapons are not linked to Tyshawn's murder.
Morgan and Boone-Doty were each initially held on $1 million bail for the gun charges. Morgan was released on that charge after posting $100,000 bond, but arrested again on the murder charge Friday.
Police said they led to the suspects through forensic evidence, witness identification and an outpouring of tips.
"We got an awful lot of intelligence from the community. This was clearly not a case of 'no snitching,'" McCarthy said. "There was a lot of fear."
Prosecutors said Morgan and the other suspects are members of the "Bang Bang Gang" and "Terror Dome" factions of Chicago's "Black P Stones" gang. They say the group had had a long-running feud with the "Killaward Faction" of the "Gangster Disciples" gang.
The police chief said the gang that investigators believe is behind the murder "just signed its own death warrant."
"We're going to go destroy that gang now, and the rival gang ....we're going to assign resources that will ensure that neither one of those gangs can raise its head again."
This isn't the first time the death of a child has caused Chicago police to hone in on an individual gang. Police arrested hundreds of members of the Maniac Latin Disciples gang after two young girls were killed in 2011, and in 2013 police cracked down on the SUWU gang when 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton was killed one week after she performed with her high school band at President Barack Obama's second inauguration.
In 2014, Chicago recorded its lowest murder total in five decades, despite more than 2,500 shootings, an increase in the number recorded the year before. This year, the city has already experienced more than 2,700 shootings, according to the Chicago Tribune.