Tyneil Washington / Photo from Chicago Police
BY MICHAEL LANSU
Homicide Watch Chicago Editor
A "distinctive tattoo" led police to a Champaign man who allegedly fatally shot 66-year-old Gold Coast shop owner Herbert Goode in early March in the Gage Park area.
Goode owns a warehouse in the 2300 block of West 57th Street and had just finished collecting rents from his tenants when he got into a struggle outside the building with 29-year-old Tyneil Washington about 2 p.m. May 1, said Assistant State's Attorney Alexandra Molesky.
A witnesses working on his truck outside the warehouse saw the struggle, which ended when Goode exited his vehicle and Washington shot him multiple times, Molesky said. Washington fled after the shooting.
Goode died a short time later at Mount Sinai Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He was the owner of Silver Cloud Gallery at 20 W. Ohio St., authorities said
Chicago Police got a physical description of Washington that included a "distinctive tattoo" on his neck, Molesky said. A police sketch released in May said the shooter had a tattoo on the right side of his neck that may have the word “PAM” with a ribbon underneath.
Washington also has the words "Cut Throat" tattooed on his neck above a tattoo of a bleeding slash wound.
Investigators learned Washington made statements admitting to the murder and an arrest warrant was issued in May, Molesky said.
The Champaign Police Department then contacted Chicago Police to let detectives know Washington lived in the area, Chicago Police said. He was arrested in Chicago last Thursday after a joint investigation involving the two departments and the U.S. Marshal’s office.
Washington, 29, of Champaign, was charged with first-degree murder. Washington was being held at Cook County Jail on a $5 million warrant, but Judge Peggy Chiampas ordered him held without bond during a Monday hearing.
A public defender said Washington was raised in Chicago, but has been living in Champaign the past five years. He has been working for a company that makes car bumpers.
Washington will be back in court June 19.