CHICAGO — Court documents reveal infuriating details about the circumstances that led to the fatal shooting of a 12-year-old girl inside a Calumet Heights home earlier this month. Prosecutors say a 19-year-old man invited six children to his house to smoke pot and drink alcohol before they all passed around firearms, one of which discharged, killing the girl.
Further, the 19-year-old was on house arrest, wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet for a pending gun charge. And the 14-year-old boy accused of pulling the trigger was also on electronic monitoring, officials say.
In a written proffer filed with the court, Assistant State’s Attorney Mike Pekara said Tyler Wright invited three children between 12 and 14 years old to his home in the 9200 block of South Harper on February 9. Later, Pekara alleged that three more children, including 12-year-old Dalilah Batey, were invited to join the group.
The children later told police that they were smoking pot and drinking alcohol and that Wright had given them cannabis to roll, the proffer said. Gathered in Wright’s bedroom, the kids saw two firearms, including one that had an extended magazine and laser sight.
Wright and two of the children, seated on Wright’s bed, began playing with the guns, Pekara said. One of the kids pulled the magazine out of one gun, put it back in, racked the slide, and passed it to another child, the proffer stated.
Dalilah was sitting on the bedroom floor when the gun fired while a 14-year-old boy played with it on the bed, Pekara said. The bullet struck Dalilah above her right eye, killing her.
When Chicago police officers arrived, Wright and the children were outside, and Dalilah was on the floor of his bedroom next to a single shell casing, according to the proffer.
The police found two firearms in Wright’s backyard. Lab tests confirmed that one of those guns fired the shot that killed Dalilah.
Prosecutors charged the 14-year-old with involuntary manslaughter earlier this month. They said he was on electronic monitoring for an unspecified charge.
Wright was wearing an ankle monitor for a pending gun case that was filed against him after Chicago cops allegedly found a loaded handgun in his waistband during a traffic stop.
Judge William Fahy gave Wright a curfew, but Judge Charles Burns put Wright on the sheriff’s office’s more restrictive electronic monitoring program after Wright was charged with criminal trespassing to a vehicle in December, court records show. That charge was eventually dropped, but Wright remained on electronic monitoring.
He is now charged with endangering the life of a child. Judge Ankara Rivera ordered him detained on that charge and for violating pretrial release conditions in his pending gun case.
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