JackieStiffend / Photo from Chicago Police
BY MICHAEL LANSU
Homicide Watch Chicago Editor
Jackie Stiffend has been charged with murder for his alleged role in a retaliation robbery last year that left accomplice LaChris Hendricks dead, prosecutors said.
Stiffend, 26, appeared before Judge Peggy Chiampas on Monday dressed in a tan plaid shirt and gray jeans. He was ordered held on $250,000 bond and will be back in court April 7.
The chain of events started when four people robbed Jackie Stiffend, LaChris Hendricks and two others of money and jewelry on Nov. 24, 2013, at a liquor store near North Kedzie Avenue and West Lake Street, Assistant State's Attorney Dan Griffin said.
Stiffend believed he knew where the people who robbed him hung out and devised a plan for the group to get their belongings back, Griffin said. The robbery victims allegedly went back to Stiffend's home and retrieved two firearms.
Just after midnight Nov. 25, the robbery victims went to the 2900 block of West Jackson Boulevard and planned to shoot the people who they believed had robbed them earlier and take their belongings back, Griffin said.
The group walked up to a white car with four people inside they believed had robbed them earlier and Stiffend and Hendricks fired multiple shots at the vehicle, Griffin said. A passenger in the car was shot in the buttocks and hamstring and the vehicle sped away.
During the ambush, Hendricks was shot in the chest, Griffin said. It was unclear if somebody inside the car or Stiffend shot Hendricks.
Hendricks, of the 1200 block of 48th Court in Cicero, died at Mount Sinai Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
The wounded occupant of the car, 30, was driven to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was treated for his wounds, authorities said.
Police recovered a 9 mm handgun next to Hendricks body and found both 9 mm and 40 mm shell casings on the street, Griffin said.
Stiffend allegedly told three other people that he was robbed and went to retaliate against the men who robbed him, Griffin said.
Stiffend, of the 300 block of North Francisco Avenue, was arrested March 15 and charged with murder because his accomplice died during the commission of a robbery, authorities said. He was also charged with one count of aggravated battery with a firearm, police said.
He was convicted in 2010 of a misdemeanor gun crime and completed two years of probation, Griffin said.
Stiffend is married and has two children -- ages 4 and 5, said public defender Andrea Webber. He has no felony convictions and works at his brother's grocery store.