Cops: Suspect charged, another sought in murder of boy, 9
CHICAGO -- A 27-year-old man has been arrested and charged in the execution-style shooting of 9-year-old Chicago boy Tyshawn Lee, and police are searching for another man who they say will also face murder charges in the slaying.
Corey Morgan has been charged with first-degree murder, according to the Cook County State's Attorney's office. He is due to appear for a bond hearing Friday afternoon. Tyshawn, who was in fourth grade, was shot multiple times at close range with a .40-caliber weapon on Nov. 2. Police say he was lured from a playground where he was playing basketball with friends into the alley where he was killed.
At a press conference Friday, Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said investigators believe the boy was targeted as revenge for previous incidents that allegedly involved his father. McCarthy said Tyshawn's death was the latest in at least three murders tied to strife between two gangs.
"It was an act of barbarism, the assassination of a nine-year-old child, as a gang retaliation to get back at his father," McCarthy said. The boy's father has repeatedly denied any involvement.
Investigators believe at least three people were involved in the murder, which McCarthy called "both targeted and calculated."
Police are also searching for a man named Kevin Edwards, who McCarthy said will also face murder charges. Investigators have been looking for Edwards for weeks.
"He's definitely underground, he knows we're looking for him, everybody knows we're looking for him," McCarthy said.
A third suspect in the case is currently being held on unrelated charges. It is unclear if that suspect is Dwight Boone-Doty, who was arrested with Morgan earlier this month when the two men were found in Oak Lawn, Ill., with loaded .40-caliber semi-automatic handguns.
Police said Friday that those weapons are not linked to Tyshawn's murder.
Morgan and Boone-Doty were each initially held on $1 million bail for the gun charges. Morgan was released on that charge after posting $100,000 bond, but arrested again on the murder charge Friday.
Police said they led to the suspects through forensic evidence, witness identification and an outpouring of tips.
"We got an awful lot of intelligence from the community. This was clearly not a case of 'no snitching,'" McCarthy said. "There was a lot of fear."
The police chief said the gang that investigators believe is behind the murder "just signed its own death warrant."
"We're going to go destroy that gang now, and the rival gang ....we're going to assign resources that will ensure that neither one of those gangs can raise its head again."