Posted on 11/07/2011 4:24:01 AM PST by marktwain
CHICAGO — Three men were ordered held without bond Saturday, charged in a Wednesday shootout that left four people dead, including a security guard from Hobart, in a Far South Side Altgeld Gardens store.
The shootout happened during an attempted armed robbery inside The Connect, a department-type store in the 500 block of East 130th Street, police said. At least one of several would-be robbers exchanged gunfire with the security guard, Michael Banks, 30, of 3958 Willow St., Hobart, authorities said.
Eric O’Neal, 18, Devon Walker, 18, and Alfred Spikes, 20, all of Chicago, were each charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated battery with a firearm, police said.
A judge in Cook County Criminal Court denied bond for O’Neal, Walker and Spikes during a hearing Saturday. All three are scheduled to appear for preliminary hearings Monday.
A law enforcement source said a video camera inside the store captured the several-minute-long gun battle that started when store employees fought back. Four men, including one teen suspect, were killed, and two other people, including a young man considered a second suspect, were injured.
A woman in her 30s was also shot during the melee that unfolded about 9:30 p.m., police said.
The deceased teen was identified as 17-year-old Alex Spikes, who was pronounced dead at 10 p.m. at Roseland Hospital, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
In court Saturday, prosecutors said the deceased teen was a co-defendant but it remained unclear how he was related to Alfred Spikes.
Besides Banks, two other men who a police source said were affiliated with the store were pronounced dead on the scene. Thab Arafen, 45, of Lansing, Ill., and Weam Salem, 25, of Worth, Ill., were also pronounced dead on the scene, according to the medical examiner’s office.
The woman was shot multiple times and remains in serious condition at Roseland Community Hospital, while the teen was initially listed in good condition at MetroSouth Medical Center in Blue Island with a gunshot wound to the thigh, according to police.
“a video camera inside the store captured the several-minute-long gun battle”
Must have seemed like an eternity to those on the premises.
I thought Chicago had strict gun control laws? Perhaps I misread the name of the city.
But this isn't possible. Chicago has strict laws preventing pretty much anyone from obtaining guns. Chicago is the Democrats' Ideal - a society where only the police and the military are armed.
Imagine how much more redeeming this story would be if after an expeditious trial before a jury of their peers, the surviving robbers faced execution by hanging within 2 years.
Including a single appeal to the federal Illinois district judge, whose prerogative was limited to examining any *major* constitutional error within the trial, and if one existed, to return the sentences to the trial court for reconsideration. If the jury confirmed the death sentences, then the state of Illinois would carry them out promptly.
And justice would be served. Unless the governor of Illinois decided to defy the will of the people and commute the sentence of the condemned to life imprisonment. Then on his own head be it, when next the voters had their say.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.