A man who skipped court in a violent suburban robbery case five years ago and then disappeared is back in custody, but only after prosecutors say he beat a 76-year-old man to death and then carjacked a vehicle with two children inside.
Malcom Wilson, 32, is the 17th person accused of killing or trying to kill someone in Chicago this year while on felony pretrial release. Those cases involve 35 victims, nine of whom died.
In a detention filing, prosecutors said the attack and carjacking occurred around 9:14 p.m. on September 8 in the 9500 block of South Halsted Street. The victim, 76-year-old Joe Bradley, was sitting on a bus stop bench with a bag of cans at his feet. Moments later, Wilson walked up, sat beside him with his own bag of cans, and the two appeared to talk.
Prosecutors said they began crushing cans together and placing them into bags as witnesses passed by. Then Bradley swung at Wilson a few times, making contact once, according to prosecutors.
As Bradley bent down to gather cans from the ground, Wilson allegedly lunged at him, took him to the ground, and punched him several times. He then stood up and stomped on Bradley’s face about ten times, followed by several kicks to the head, prosecutors said. Wilson paced back and forth as Bradley lay motionless on the ground.
Paramedics discovered his head wedged under a bus shelter partition, and firefighters had to cut the structure to remove him, prosecutors said. He was pronounced dead.
Two witnesses, neither of whom could later identify Wilson in photos, turned around and saw much of the attack. One of them recorded it on his phone, capturing images of Wilson’s face, prosecutors said. The video allegedly shows Wilson turning back toward Bradley, who was still motionless, and kicking him several more times before stomping on his upper body and walking away.
In addition to the phone video, cameras at several nearby businesses recorded the attack.
Prosecutors said Wilson then walked to a nearby McDonald’s, approached a 2024 Kia Telluride in the parking lot that had the keys in the ignition, and drove off with it. The owner’s two grandchildren, ages 14 and 3, were in the back seat. Wilson stopped briefly to remove the children from the car, struggling with the older boy and claiming he had a gun while threatening to beat the child, according to prosecutors.
But, unbeknownst to Wilson, the 3-year-old’s iPad was still inside the Kia, and the child’s mother used it to track the vehicle to Dolton and then to Schererville, Indiana, where she followed the Kia until local police arrived and arrested Wilson. Prosecutors said he “made admissions to knocking out the victim” and “stomping on him” after Bradley hit him first.
Judge William Gamboney ordered Wilson detained on two counts of murder, two counts of aggravated vehicular hijacking with a passenger under 16, and one count of possessing a stolen motor vehicle.
Court records show Wilson was charged with robbery and aggravated battery in suburban Markham in 2019. He stopped appearing in court the following summer, and a failure-to-appear warrant was issued for his arrest in August 2020, according to the records. He was previously convicted of robbery of a victim older than 60 in 2015, receiving a four-year sentence, prosecutors said.
The “not horrible” series
This report continues our coverage of individuals accused of killing, shooting, or trying to kill or shoot others on pretrial release for a felony allegation. 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 awaiting trial for felony allegations 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. You can see all of the “not horrible” stories here.
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