Prosecutors: Marion Lewis, 18, Waited In Car While Two Other Men Shot And Killed 7-Year-Old Jaslyn Adams, Wounded Her Father
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Prosecutors on Sunday said an 18-year-old man charged in the shooting that killed of 7-year-old Jaslyn Adams stayed in a car while two other men with him got out and opened fire, and also said he had threatened Jaslyn's father before.
Police said Marion Lewis faces a total of 19 felony charges, including one count of first-degree murder, one count of aggravated vehicular hijacking, three counts of attempted murder, three counts of aggravated unlawful restraint, six counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm, one count of unlawful possession of a stolen motor vehicle, three counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, and one count of aggravated assault of a police officer.
Days after Jaslyn was shot and killed, Lewis was shot and wounded by police and apprehended as he tried to carjack a family on the Eisenhower Expressway following a pursuit, authorities said. In bond court Sunday, a Cook County judge said, "The Eisenhower Expressway turned into a crime scene."
Police said on Sunday, April 18, Jaslyn was found in a bullet-ridden car sitting in a McDonald's drive-thru in the 3200 block of West Roosevelt Road, at Kedzie Avenue. Investigators said Jaslyn was hit multiple times around her body. She was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital of Cook County.
Family said her father, Jontae Adams, 29, was also hit. Chicago Police said Adams was shot in the upper body. He was taken to Stroger Hospital of Cook County, where he is still recovering from his wounds.
According to prosecutors, surveillance video from the McDonald's shows a silver Audi with a paper license plate and distinctive discoloration pull up behind the car with Jaslyn and her father. Two men with hoodies covering their faces jumped out of the car and shot into Adams' car before getting back into the Audi, prosecutors said. When the victims' car began to move forward again, the two men again got out of the Audi and fired into the victims' vehicle again before getting back in the car and speeding away.
One of the gunmen was in the front passenger seat and was wearing a pink hoodie with a square design on the front and with the hood pulled up and cinched around his face, prosecutors said. He had a .40-caliber handgun, prosecutors said.
The other gunman was wearing a black sweatshirt and also had his hood pulled up and cinched around his face – along with stonewashed jeans, prosecutors said. He had an AK-47 type of gun called a Draco that is equipped with a banana clip, prosecutors said.
The two shooters have not yet been charged, prosecutors said, and Lewis never exited the vehicle. The prosecutors' comments indicated that he was the driver.
A total of 45 shell casings were found at the scene.
According to prosecutors, video Lewis posted to social media two hours before the shooting shows Lewis and the two men with guns in the Audi. Earlier video from a BP gas station also shows the men at the store. A witness at the store offered to repair some damage to the Audi and gave Lewis a business card. Prosecutors said that witness later met the men in an alley and attempted to repair the Audi, leaving the discoloration.
Prosecutors say Adams identified Lewis as someone who has threatened him in the past. He also identified one of the shooters as an associate of Lewis and a member of the same gang.
Though the shooters have not been charged, police have identified both, prosecutors said.
Police then tracked Lewis down via his Facebook page and found him at an apartment complex in Lombard. They also found the witness' business card in the apartment Lewis left, prosecutors said.
Police say Lewis got in a stolen Dodge, and officers tried to box him in, but he smashed into a parked vehicle and another undercover police vehicle and got away.
Prosecutors said Lewis then went down the Eisenhower Expressway where near Mannheim Road, police found him attempting to carjack a Land Rover with five people, including children inside. Prosecutors say a police officer heard Lewis fire a shot at the driver's window. The driver was not struck but was bleeding after being struck by shards of glass. Lewis pulled the man from the vehicle.
An officer fired five shots and struck Lewis in the left shoulder, removed him from the vehicle and arrested him.
Police said they later found two guns - one an assault rifle - in Lewis' backpack. Prosecutors said shell casings at the McDonald's matched to the guns.
On Saturday, Jaslyn's grandmother said regardless of the allegations that Lewis was not the one who fired the shots that killed the little girl, the charges are progress in the case.
"If he was connected to the murder or not, he got caught with the guns," said Lawanda McMullen. "So that says enough for itself."
The judge agreed with that sentiment and ordered Lewis held without bond. He also took into account Lewis' prior charges of burglary, looting and unlawful use of a weapon.
Lewis is scheduled to appear in court again April 29.
