Corey Morgan | Cook County sheriff's office
A South Side man man was ordered held without bond Friday for the murder of 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee, the Chicago.In addition to Corey Morgan, at least two others were involved in the fatal shooting after Tyshawn was lured into an alley while he was playing basketball nearby, authorities said.
“This is a crime that shook our city. … It was an act of barbarism, the assassination of a 9-year-old child as a gang retaliation to get back at his father,” Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy told reporters.
Morgan’s arrest was announced on Twitter early Friday by Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.
Cook County Judge Peggy Chiampas lambasted Morgan for “hunting every day with a firearm a week in retaliation.”
“There is nothing this court can do to save grandmas,” the judge said. “You are a danger not only to your self, to your community. No bail!”
Tyshawn Lee
Mayor Rahm Emanuel praised McCarthy and other officers for their efforts in the investigation.
“I would like to commend Superintendent Garry McCarthy, the leadership of the Chicago Police Department, and the men and women of the police force for identifying and arresting the two individuals believed to have targeted and killed nine-year-old Tyshawn Lee,” the mayor said in a statement.
“All of Chicago grieves for this young life taken far too soon, and we must ensure that justice is served.”
McCarthy said police were able to narrow in on the suspects with “forensic evidence and community involvement.”
No murder weapon has been recovered.
“We got an awful lot of intelligence from the community,” he said. “This was very clearly not a case of ‘no-snitching’ but there was a lot of fear.”
When asked if Tyshawn’s dad was helpful in the investigation, the top cop said, “Not at all. Not at all.”
While police believe there were “at least three people involved” in Tyshawn’s murder, McCarthy said investigators believe that only one person pulled the trigger. The shell casings came from one gun, he said.
“There were three people, we’re pretty certain, acting in concert. Who drove the car, who was on the scene, Who pulled the trigger, is all being worked on,” McCarthy said.
One man is already in custody on an unrelated gun charge, McCarthy said. His name was not disclosed.
Authorities have also issued a first-degree murder warrant for a man named Kevin Edwards, McCarthy said. Edwards is from the Chicago area, McCarthy said.
Kevin Edwards | Chicago Police
All three men are members of the same gang, McCarthy said.
“That gang just signed its own death warrant,” he said.
About 4 p.m. on Nov. 2, Tyshawn was lured into an alley in the 8000 block of South Damen and executed in retaliation against the boy’s father, authorities say.
Police believe Tyshawn was killed in retaliation for the Oct. 13 murder of Tracey Morgan, 25, who is the brother of Corey Morgan, records show.
But McCarthy said on Friday two murders and two non-fatal shootings “precipitated” Tyshawn’s killing.
“He was definitely lured from the park where he was playing basketball with some friends,” McCarthy said.
An uncharged suspect took Tyshawn’s basketball, gave it back and then walked with him into alley off Damen, where he was shot at close range, Cook County prosecutors said Friday at Morgan’s bond hearing. The boy had defensive wounds as if he tried to block one of the gun shots, they said.
Tyshawn was shot in the right temple and the bullet went through his left temple, according to a Nov. 3 autopsy report reviewed by the Sun-Times. He was also grazed in the back, right forearm and right hand.
Gunpowder residue was found on the left side of Tyshawn’s face, revealing that the shooter likely missed a shot. That bullet likely either grazed his back or struck his right thumb. There were no gunshot wounds on the left side of his face, the report said.
Seven .40-caliber bullet casings were found at the murder scene.
Tyshawn, who was just 83 pounds and 56 inches tall, wore black jeans, plaid boxers, an orange Polo shirt and a dark jacket with yellow lining on his final day of life. He had an iPhone charger and a watch on him when he died, but no phone, the report said.
On Nov. 17, police arrested Morgan, a person of interest in the slaying of the fourth grader. Morgan, 27, whose address was listed as in the 7800 block of South Hoyne, was arrested after he left a Hilton hotel near 95th Street in Oak Lawn, authorities say. He was later charged with possession of a firearm by a felon.
Prominent defense attorney Sam Adam Jr. accompanied Morgan to speak with police at the time.
Adam, who does not represent Morgan, said he does not know if Morgan was involved or not in Tyshawn’s murder. But he said the community was instrumental with the investigation from the start.
“All I can say is that with every thing going on in Chicago to say that people are not interested in what’s going on is false,” Adam said.
Arrested with Morgan was Dwight Boone-Doty, 21, of the 7300 block of South Vernon.
They were stopped in a car on 87th Street in nearby Evergreen Park.
Police allegedly recovered two handguns from the men. They both were ordered held on $1 million bail to the sounds of gasps in the courtroom. Morgan was later released after posting his $100,000 bond.
Police ran tests on two .40-caliber pistols they found when they searched a car in which Corey Morgan and Dwight Boone-Doty were driving in Evergreen Park.
Police say they saw a pistol tucked in Boone-Doty’s waistband as he and Morgan got into the car and left a Hilton Hotel in south suburban Oak Lawn. Police pulled the men over a few blocks away in Evergreen Park, and found Boone-Doty with one pistol still tucked in his waistband, and the second gun in a duffel bag Morgan was seen carrying outside the hotel.
Morgan has been barred from owning a firearm after he was convicted of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. Boone-Doty is on parole for a drug and weapons case from Downstate Sangamon County.
--Chicago Sun-Times