A Cook County jury needed about an hour on Thursday to convict a 27-year-old man of first-degree murder for gunning down a 71-year-old grandfather in Chinatown four years ago.
Prosecutors said Alphonso Joyner fired more than 25 rounds from a homemade “ghost gun” with an extended magazine to kill Woom Sing Tse as the beloved father of three walked near his home in the middle of the day. Prosecutors described the killing as a random act of violence that stunned the tight-knit Chinatown community.
“This senseless act of violence robbed Woom Sing Tse’s family of a beloved and doting grandfather, and it traumatized the entire Chinatown community,” Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke said after the verdict. “While today’s guilty verdict cannot erase the pain and grief of Tse’s loved ones, we hope this outcome provides some comfort in knowing that justice has been served.”
Prosecutors said surveillance video showed Joyner fired 26 rounds during the assault, using an untraceable firearm assembled from mixed parts with no serial numbers.
The shooting occurred around 12:30 p.m. on December 7, 2021, as Tse took one of his regular afternoon walks near South Princeton Avenue and West 23rd Place. Prosecutors said Joyner drove east on 23rd Place, extended a gun out of his driver’s side window, and fired seven shots at Tse.
Joyner pulled his car closer to Tse, then fired six more shots as Tse covered his head and ears, and then fell to the ground. Video showed Joyner getting out of his car and calmly walking over to the fallen Tse, who was yelling from the ground. He allegedly fired nine more shots at close range before returning to his car and driving away.
Police located Joyner a short time later as he drove the same car on the Kennedy Expressway wearing the same clothes as the murderer. Shell casings at the shooting scene allegedly matched a gun that police found crammed between the driver’s seat and center console of Joyner’s car. He had gunshot residue on both of his hands, prosecutors said.
Cook County Circuit Court Judge Domenica Stephenson presided over the trial. Sentencing will be scheduled after post-trial motions are completed, a process that can take months.
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