Teen Charged In Chatham Triple Slaying
UPDATED 11/08/11 1:18 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Bond has been denied for a 17-year-old boy, who is charged with the murder of three people outside a bakery at 87th Street and King Drive in the Chatham neighborhood.
As CBS 2's Susanna Song reports, Nicko Grayson, of the 7000 block of South Perry Avenue, was charged with first-degree murder Monday night. His bond was denied in Violence Court (Br. 66) at the Cook County Criminal Courthouse Tuesday.
Witnesses picked Grayson out from an array of photos as the person who allegedly shot the three who were all sitting inside a car, police said.
Police said a car pulled up to the parking lot at about 5 p.m. Saturday, just as Chanda Thompson, 21, was leaving the bakery and getting into the parked car with two men.
Thompson had been picking up a cake for her daughter's second birthday.
But when she got in the car, a man walked up and shot her and her two friends, killing them all. Now, Thompson's young daughter is left wondering, "Where's my mom?"
"What do you tell a 2-year-old? That her mother was gunned down? What do you say?" said Charlene Davis, Thompson's aunt. "So the only thing we're left to do is raise a child who was left motherless for something so senseless. She had no chance."
Thompson was about to head back to the house when she was shot and killed.
"They were backing out, and they were about to head back to the house," Davis said.
Thompson's daughter's birthday went on without her, but no one was feeling joyous or festive.
Also killed in the shooting were Cortez Champion, 21, and Shawn Russell, also 21.
"We pray that this is the person that did it, and that they charge him, and I still pray for the family, because 17? I mean, for real? He just shortened his life," Davis said.
At the scene Monday night, Davis spent time praying around a small memorial in the parking lot where her niece lost her life. Grayson was charged soon afterward.
"My anger will say, 'Rot in hell,' but my love for people will say, 'I just pray for your soul,'" she said.
Davis is a community activist who has worked with teens to stop violence on the streets. She said Thompson also worked with her and was getting involved.
She never imagined Thompson would be the next victim.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
