Charges have been filed against three more suspects in the slaying of 15-year-old Demario Bailey, who was shot to death while coming to the aid of his twin brother when the two were robbed on their way to basketball practice, police said.
The three -- two of them 17 and one just turned 16 -- were charged Monday afternoon as adults with first-degree murder, attempted robbery with a firearm and robbery, according to a police statement. Deafro Brakes, 17, his brother Tarik Brakes, 16, and Isiah Penn, 17, were expected to appear in Cook County bond court on Tuesday.
A fourth suspect was charged over the weekend with the Saturday afternoon shooting in a viaduct at 63rd and State streets. Carlos Johnson, 17, was ordered held without bail during a hearing Monday.
The four are accused of approaching Demario and his brother Demacio after the brothers got off the No. 29/State Street bus around 12:30 p.m. and were walking to Johnson College Prep, where Demacio was going to play basketball, according to prosecutors and police.
The robbers told the brothers to "give it up" and started going through their pockets, authorities said. There was a struggle and Demario yelled at the robbers, "Get off my brother," and pushed Johnson away, police said. One of the robbers pulled a gun and shot Demario in the chest, they said.
The boy was hit in the chest and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Witnesses at the scene gave police officers a description of Johnson, according to Assistant State's Attorney Jamie Santini. CTA and police cameras show Johnson and others going toward the viaduct before the shooting and then fleeing it immediately afterward, Santini said.
Johnson was arrested an hour after the shooting, just a block away as police worked the scene.
The three other suspects were taken into custody at their homes within several blocks from each other on the South Side on Sunday afternoon, according to police reports.
During the hearing for Johnson, prosecutors said Johnson and others had been involved in two other armed robberies minutes earlier in the same viaduct. But prosecutors stopped short of saying Johnson fired the shot that killed Demario.
"Not this defendant?" Judge James Brown asked.
"At this time, no," Santini said.
Attorney Mike Clancy, representing Johnson, said Johnson lives with his mother and grandmother, both of whom were in court. He works at a McDonald's during his time off from school, Clancy said.
Clancy questioned the prosecution case, saying "there is not one of these instances where (Johnson) is the gunman."
"These are merely allegations," Clancy told the judge. "This is an identification case at best."
Brown ordered Johnson held without bail. Johnson's family declined to comment to reporters.
The boys' grandmother, Bernice Fitzpatrick, 62, said the boys were inseparable.
"They were raised to stick together," Fitzpatrick said. "We always said, 'Take after your brother, look after your brother.'"
Saturday was one of the few times the boys had been allowed to walk out on the South Side streets alone, she said. Up until about a month ago, she and their mother would drive the boys everywhere they needed to go.
"Our children have always been dropped up and picked up and escorted," Fitzpatrick told the Tribune. "They were starting to say, 'Ma, we can do things on our own.'
"We promised them we would give them a little more freedom," Fitzpatrick said. "We let them go for one month. I don't know what we're supposed to do now."
Fitzpatrick called her grandson "honorable."
"Demario was an excellent child, all my grandchildren are just honorable children," she said. "That's how they were raised. They were raised to be good children."
Besides his twin brother, Demario had a 3-year-old brother and 19-year-old brother who studies at Northeastern Illinois University, Fitzpatrick said. Their mother is engaged to be married, she said.
At school, Demario participated in many extracurricular activities, including the Marine Corp Junior ROTC program, Fitzpatrick said.
"They were involved in everything," she said. "Whatever (the school) needed them for or they could find that would be an outlet."
The three -- two of them 17 and one just turned 16 -- were charged Monday afternoon as adults with first-degree murder, attempted robbery with a firearm and robbery, according to a police statement. Deafro Brakes, 17, his brother Tarik Brakes, 16, and Isiah Penn, 17, were expected to appear in Cook County bond court on Tuesday.
A fourth suspect was charged over the weekend with the Saturday afternoon shooting in a viaduct at 63rd and State streets. Carlos Johnson, 17, was ordered held without bail during a hearing Monday.
The four are accused of approaching Demario and his brother Demacio after the brothers got off the No. 29/State Street bus around 12:30 p.m. and were walking to Johnson College Prep, where Demacio was going to play basketball, according to prosecutors and police.
The robbers told the brothers to "give it up" and started going through their pockets, authorities said. There was a struggle and Demario yelled at the robbers, "Get off my brother," and pushed Johnson away, police said. One of the robbers pulled a gun and shot Demario in the chest, they said.
The boy was hit in the chest and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Witnesses at the scene gave police officers a description of Johnson, according to Assistant State's Attorney Jamie Santini. CTA and police cameras show Johnson and others going toward the viaduct before the shooting and then fleeing it immediately afterward, Santini said.
Johnson was arrested an hour after the shooting, just a block away as police worked the scene.
The three other suspects were taken into custody at their homes within several blocks from each other on the South Side on Sunday afternoon, according to police reports.
During the hearing for Johnson, prosecutors said Johnson and others had been involved in two other armed robberies minutes earlier in the same viaduct. But prosecutors stopped short of saying Johnson fired the shot that killed Demario.
"Not this defendant?" Judge James Brown asked.
"At this time, no," Santini said.
Attorney Mike Clancy, representing Johnson, said Johnson lives with his mother and grandmother, both of whom were in court. He works at a McDonald's during his time off from school, Clancy said.
Clancy questioned the prosecution case, saying "there is not one of these instances where (Johnson) is the gunman."
"These are merely allegations," Clancy told the judge. "This is an identification case at best."
Brown ordered Johnson held without bail. Johnson's family declined to comment to reporters.
The boys' grandmother, Bernice Fitzpatrick, 62, said the boys were inseparable.
"They were raised to stick together," Fitzpatrick said. "We always said, 'Take after your brother, look after your brother.'"
Saturday was one of the few times the boys had been allowed to walk out on the South Side streets alone, she said. Up until about a month ago, she and their mother would drive the boys everywhere they needed to go.
"Our children have always been dropped up and picked up and escorted," Fitzpatrick told the Tribune. "They were starting to say, 'Ma, we can do things on our own.'
"We promised them we would give them a little more freedom," Fitzpatrick said. "We let them go for one month. I don't know what we're supposed to do now."
Fitzpatrick called her grandson "honorable."
"Demario was an excellent child, all my grandchildren are just honorable children," she said. "That's how they were raised. They were raised to be good children."
Besides his twin brother, Demario had a 3-year-old brother and 19-year-old brother who studies at Northeastern Illinois University, Fitzpatrick said. Their mother is engaged to be married, she said.
At school, Demario participated in many extracurricular activities, including the Marine Corp Junior ROTC program, Fitzpatrick said.
"They were involved in everything," she said. "Whatever (the school) needed them for or they could find that would be an outlet."