A 23-year-old man who listed his job as “security officer” is now charged with first-degree murder in a killing that unfolded in a church parking lot in Noble Square this summer.
Prosecutors say surveillance video and ballistics evidence tie Antwan McLaurin to the fatal shooting of 24-year-old Jimvonta Blossom on August 2, just steps from McLaurin’s home.
According to Assistant State’s Attorney Jennifer Karr, video showed McLaurin leaving his residence around 11 p.m. and joining a nearby gathering where Blossom was present.
About 40 minutes later, Blossom got into a fight with a 50-year-old man, and the two struggled to control Blossom’s .40-caliber handgun, Karr said. The weapon discharged, hitting the older man in the thigh.
As 911 calls flooded in, video captured Blossom walking toward the parking lot of Holy Trinity Polish Catholic Church at 1118 North Noble and driving out of his parking spot.
Seconds later, McLaurin was seen entering the same lot with a gun as another vehicle blocked Blossom’s vehicle in, Karr said. At that moment, McLaurin ran up to Blossom’s car, aimed at the driver’s side window, and fired a single shot before fleeing, according to Karr.
Blossom was struck in the head and died. His gun, jammed, was recovered from his waistband at Stroger Hospital.
Other footage allegedly showed McLaurin returning to his home minutes later.
After police recently arrested McLaurin, they executed a search warrant at his home and found a 9mm ghost gun in his bedroom along with clothing resembling what he wore the night of the killing, Karr said. Ballistics testing allegedly matched a casing recovered at the scene to that weapon.
Judge Shauna Boliker ordered McLaurin detained pending trial.
