A second man has been charged with murder in connection with a fatal shooting on the Wabash Bridge that was captured by surveillance cameras last summer. Deandre Lewis, 23, was arrested Thursday after making a court appearance in Rockford on an unrelated domestic battery case.
Lewis, who is not accused of firing a gun during the incident, is the second person charged with murder in the death of 35-year-old Gregory Crawford at 2:25 a.m. July 19. In January, Charles James, 31, was charged with first-degree murder and four counts of attempt first-degree murder in connection with the shooting. A third suspect remains at large.
Lewis, James, and the third suspect were walking around the area near Trump Tower when the third man got into an altercation with a 27-year-old man, Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy said, citing video evidence. The three men then begin following the 27-year-old, and Lewis grazed the man’s head with his fist, Murphy said.
When other people start to gang up on the man, he ran onto the Wabash Bridge and tried to hide behind cars while the crowd followed him, Murphy said. As the man tried to hide behind cars on the bridge, Lewis, wearing a Mickey Mouse t-shirt, pointed toward the man while allegedly urging the other two offenders to shoot him, Murphy said.
Crawford, who was riding in a passing car, opened his door and asked the man if he was okay. Before the man could get into Crawford’s car, James and the other gunman began firing, Murphy said.
Bullets pierced the vehicle’s windshield, striking Crawford in the neck and hitting a female passenger twice in her left arm, according to prosecutors. The car’s driver sped from the scene, and the man allegedly targeted by the shooters fled on foot without injuries. James and the other gunman allegedly got into a car and left the area.
In addition to the two shooting victims, another passenger in the car was treated and released for unspecified injuries.
Investigators found five shell casings at the scene. Detectives released surveillance video of the shooting to the public a few days later. The video clearly shows multiple police vehicles with blue lights activated on Wacker Drive as officers tended to a large crowd of people who gathered along the Riverwalk area for several hours before the shooting unfolded.
People are seen diving to the bridge deck, ducking, and running from the scene. After the shooting stops, both gunmen run north on the bridge, away from the police squad cars that sit on the other side of the Chicago River.
Murphy said the intended target of the shooting told investigators that a man in a Mickey Mouse shirt was the one who confronted him and pointed at him while encouraging others to shoot. According to Murphy, Lewis identified himself as the person seen wearing the Mickey Mouse shirt in the surveillance video.
Private defense attorney Joshua Kutnick said Lewis owns and operates a clothing line.
“He’s the one that jumps the violence off,” Judge John Lyke said while summarizing the allegations against Lewis. “He initiates the violence. He throws the punch, and then the rest of his cohorts jump in.”
Lyke then ordered Lewis held without bail.
