Prosecutors accused a 16-year-old boy on Wednesday of acting as the driver for a gunman who shot and killed a man in Albany Park two months ago. The accused teen, Jyquwon McClellan, committed the crime while having two felony cases, including a carjacking, pending in juvenile court, prosecutors said. He’s charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder.
McClellan is the 25th person accused of killing or shooting — or attempting to kill or shoot — someone in Chicago while on bail for a felony this year. The alleged crimes involved at least 55 victims, 12 of whom died.
Prosecutors on Wednesday said lab tests suggest that the gun used in the Albany Park murder was used one day earlier to kill a pizza delivery driver less than a block from McClellan’s home. He is not charged with that crime, however.
Around 7 p.m. on May 6, McClellan allegedly drove 17-year-old Branko Fager to the 4400 block of North Hamlin in a stolen Nissan Maxima. As they neared the car 37-year-old Michael Conrad was driving, Fager, who was charged with the murder last week, leaned out of the passenger-side window and began shooting into Conrad’s vehicle, prosecutor James Murphy said.
Police recovered 22 shell casings at the shooting scene. Conrad died, and a woman driving nearby was injured when one of the bullets shattered her windshield, sending glass into her eye, according to the allegations.
Murphy said investigators received information that McClellan, also known as “Psycho,” was involved in the shooting. After McClellan was arrested on May 16 for possessing a stolen motor vehicle, police executed a search warrant on his phone.
A trove of digital evidence from McClellan’s phone allegedly linked him to Fager and the murder, including GPS tracking, social media conversations about Conrad, and discussions about planning the murder.
According to Murphy, McClellan also searched an address in suburban Northlake on Apple Maps just 16 minutes before the car used in Conrad’s murder was found engulfed in flames at the same address.
Murphy did not provide a motive for the crime.
McClellan was adjudicated delinquent as a juvenile for a robbery he committed in May 2018, when he was 12-years-old. Murphy said a judge sentenced him to probation, which he violated twice.
At the time of Conrad’s murder, McClellan was awaiting trial in juvenile court for aggravated vehicular hijacking and a separate felony stolen motor vehicle case. He also has a previous juvenile conviction for criminal trespass to a vehicle.
McClellan’s public defender contended that the state’s case is based entirely on circumstantial evidence and pointed out that McClellan is not accused of shooting anyone.
He said McClellan “would be a rising junior next year” in high school.
“I’ll point this out,” said Judge Maryam Ahamad as Wednesday’s hearing wrapped up. “Defendant has three pending cases. He has all the safeguards of juvenile court, all the resources of juvenile court. And clearly, those were insufficient to prevent this offense.”
She granted the state’s motion to hold McClellan without bail.
The “not horrible” series
This report continues our coverage of individuals accused of killing, shooting, or trying to kill or shoot others 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 brought charges in less than 5% of non-fatal shootings and 33% of murders, according to the city’s data.
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