Posted on 09/29/2009 11:06:23 AM PDT by HIDEK6
CHICAGO -- Prosecutors have charged four teenagers with first-degree murder in the beating death of a student who was walking home from school.
Family members believe the victim, 16-year-old Derrion Albert, was fatally beaten Thursday for refusing to join a gang.
Charged with first-degree murder are Silvonus Shannon, 19, Eugene Riley, 18, Eric Carson, 16, and Eugene Bailey, 18, according to the Cook County state attorney's office.
Shannon, Riley and Carson were ordered held without bond Monday.
Bailey was due in bond court Tuesday.
Chicago police said they were looking for at least three more suspects, but would not discuss a possible motive for the attack.
Records showed Carson is on probation for a robbery conviction. Shannon and Riley have no criminal records.
Police have been using a video purportedly taken by a person at the scene of the beating to help identify people.
The video shows several people beating and stomping a person believed to be Albert outside the Agape Community Center, 342 W. 111th St.The video shows dozens of people punching, kicking and swinging planks in a melee in a lot next to the community center and the adjacent street.
At one point, four or five males, including one wielding a two-by-four, can be seen beating and stomping another person, believed to be Albert, who had fallen to the ground.
As the attackers flee, the person with the camera and several others approached Albert and carried him into a nearby building.
"Derrion, get up!" a female voice pleaded.
On Monday, Chicago police lined up in a show of force outside Fenger as students trickled into the school at staggered intervals. Most arrived on foot wearing their standard uniform of khaki pants and black shirts.
Police patrolled the area in squad cars and staged a visible presence at the school's entrance.
"We want to provide reassurance to the public that there's a police presence and they can feel safe in the neighborhood and kids can feel safe at school," said Morgan Park District Commander Michael Kuemmeth.
Monday marked the first day Fenger had been open since the fatal melee that swept up Albert, an honor roll student.
All Chicago public schools were closed Friday for a staff day.
A march and vigil for Albert outside Fenger, organized by his family, was held at 1 p.m.
Originally, the vigil had been planned for Sunday, but Albert's family agreed to postpone it at the request of the Chicago Public Schools, said Albert's grandfather Joseph Walker.
Before the announcement of charges, Chicago Police spokesman Roderick Drew said investigators had identified several people from the video and were questioning four of them.
Officials and witnesses say the melee was a culmination of a simmering rivalry between two groups of Fenger students, one that lived near the school and the other from the Altgeld Gardens housing development.
Neighbors said the feud has been building since August, spilling across Roseland streets and, some say, into Fenger. Albert was a bystander and was not a member of either group, according to Tandra Simonton, a spokeswoman for the Cook County prosecutor's office.
Albert's family was squeamish about watching the video and not all of them were able to watch it in its entirety.
"It hurt to watch," said LaTonia Williams, the teen's aunt. "It's one thing to hear about it and come up with your own theory of what happened. To see it is another thing. It gave us a real clear picture of what happened. That video was crucial."
Did they ever bring back the death penalty in Illinois for the three "teens" who are adults?
disgusting!
I hope this is being read by the IOC in Copenhagen.
Rapidly becoming South Africa
Chicagodishu.
Just going by the number, they’re nine-teen and eight-teen. Less to do with being an adolescent, more with being a legal adult. People aren’t going to start saying “2 before 20” to try to sound older.
” “We want to provide reassurance to the public that there’s a police presence and they can feel safe in the neighborhood and kids can feel safe at school,” said Morgan Park District Commander Michael Kuemmeth. “
Just an observation:
Their “reassurance” is smoke an mirrors and they know it.
The community might “feel safe” but they clearly are NOT safe as this crime illustrates. Which is the reason we need CCW rights to be universal in all areas and all states. The police can’t protect you or anyone else.
" In a related statement, Commander Kuemmeth reassured the Albert family and other Morgan Park residents that "No matter what, when every second counts, we'll always be just minutes away".
It is true that many people like living with institutional rules, then they do not have to responsible for making decisions or the consequences that got along with that.
Just another day at government school.
They’re just learning to “socialize.”
Location of Obama's first "success" as a community organizer.
Got that barn door shut good and tight, eh Commander? I'm sure that makes the family feel much better.
More homicides in Chicago this year than the dealths in the military in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A city totally out of control.
Corruption- graft- certainly no hopey changey going on there.
Would not live within 300 miles of that hellhole.
Unbelievable to think what this once great nation has become. It looks as if the community organizers in Chicago have accomplished just what they set out to do. That scene looks like something out of Zimbabwe or Somalia. And its a fairy tale to think murder charges will stick.
Watch for used tires being deployed as ‘necklaces’.
More GLOBULL WARMING.
Shouldn’t that be Chicagowanda? Or do they have to use machetes and flaming tire necklaces to qualify for the wanda suffix? This brave new world is hard to keep up with.
Hey! That's a great idea!
>All Chicago public schools were closed Friday for a staff day.
“We kicked the Bible out!”
“Yeah!”
“Are we ashamed?”
“No!”
“Keep doing the same plan?”
“Yeah!”
ding, ding , ding!!!! We have a winner!!! As long as the inner city plantation dwellers feel safe all is well. Its easier to be on the plantation than off b/c when you’re off you’re responsible and can’t blame anyone else for you ‘bad lot in life’.
The screen shot from the video is racial profiling, there is not one white kid in the pic. This must have been photoshopped to show young black males as the criminals. We all know this is not possible since BHO has brought Hope and Change. SARC/OFF
Wrong. We need more midnight basketball.
/ s
*The community might “feel safe” but they clearly are NOT safe as this crime illustrates. Which is the reason we need CCW rights to be universal in all areas and all states. The police can’t protect you or anyone else.*
Not disagreeing, but how would CCW have helped this SIXTEEN year old victim? Is it legal for 16 year-olds to CCW anywhere? Even if it were, he was just leaving school, right? Certainly you wouldn’t be allowed to CCW in school.
Also, most likely there’s plenty of illegal carrying of weapons going on in this neighborhood—still didn’t help break up this riot or stop this murder.
Just curious. If these students had been CCW, do you think the incident would have been more or less deadly?
One thing I noticed is that the school has a uniform, but immediately after school, there seems to be a lot of red clothing—and no other color of clothing—in that picture. I guess all the blue clothing is across the street.
Don’t want to sound racist,but i doubt they would have been eligible to carry.Don’t know bout Ill,but Fla has strict requirements as to who can apply for a ccw.
My point was that guns don’t act as a protection if those carrying them are thugs and criminals. Quite the contrary.
Adding guns to this melee would just have resulted in a higher body count. Probably with more of them being innocent bystanders.
No, I did not mean to suggest that any of these kids should be allowed CCW permits. I was just pointing out the fact that the police can't “protect” the public. Leftist politicians always claim that trained professional police officers provide protection for the public when it's obvious they don't.
The public must defend itself. The police make the arrests and prosecute the offenders.
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