#71: Burglar opened fire on a woman while fleeing her apartment (and while on felony bail), prosecutors say

The woman received quite a shock when she returned to her South Side home shortly after noon on November 6, 2021: there were burglars inside her apartment. She received an even bigger shock moments later when one burglar began shooting at her.

Prosecutors on Tuesday said the burglar who fired the shots was her cousin-in-law, Kendall Irvin. He was on bond for felony possession of a stolen motor vehicle and a separate misdemeanor criminal trespass to vehicle case at the time of the alleged crime. He’s now charged with aggravated discharge of a firearm, residential burglary, and two counts of misdemeanor aggravated assault.

Irvin is the 71st person charged with killing or shooting — or trying to shoot or kill — someone in Chicago last year while awaiting trial for a felony.

Prosecutors said the woman reached the front door of her apartment on the 6000 block of South Prairie a little after noon and immediately heard a banging sound coming from her back door. Then she heard footsteps inside her apartment. She retreated to the building’s courtyard and called her mom.

While she was waiting for her mother to arrive, the woman saw three men walking from the building to the nearby alley. They were carrying bags and her mother’s suitcase. Two of them were wearing masks. But Irvin was not, and she immediately recognized him as her cousin’s husband.

He made eye contact with her, then pulled out a gun and fired several shots toward her, prosecutors said. The woman ran away. Police found damage to the apartment’s rear door. Several items were missing, including cash from the mother’s lockbox, prosecutors said.

Irvin, 21, stopped showing up for his pending cases and judges issued warrants for his arrest in December and March.

The felony stolen car case stems from a traffic stop last summer. Irvin was allegedly driving a stolen car with a fake license plate. The car’s rear window was broken and replaced with cardboard. Prosecutors said the car’s owner still had both key fobs while Irvin was using a generic fob with no automaker insignia. A judge set his initial bail at $5,000, which required a $500 deposit to get out of jail.

He does not have any adult convictions, but he was adjudicated delinquent as a juvenile for burglary in 2017 and aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm in 2018, prosecutors said.

Assistant Public Defender Suzin Farber said he is expecting a child soon.

Judge Mary Marubio, the judge who set his bail in the stolen motor vehicle case last year, was back on the bench for Tuesday’s hearing. She set bail for the new allegations at $150,000. Irvin must post 10% of that to go home on electronic monitoring.

But he won’t be able to get out of jail right away. Marubio also ordered him held without bail until the judge handling his stolen car case can review the new allegations.

The “not horrible” series

This report continues our coverage of individuals who have been accused of murder, attempted murder, or shooting firearms toward people while on bond for a pending felony case. CWBChicago began our series of reports in November 2019 after Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans publicly stated, “we haven’t had any horrible incidents occur” under the court’s bond reform initiative.

The actual number of murders and shootings committed by people on felony bail is undoubtedly much higher than the numbers seen here. Since 2017, CPD has made arrests in less than 5% of non-fatal shootings and 33% of murders, according to the city’s data. You can support CWBChicago’s work by becoming a subscriber today.

The “not horrible” series

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