CHICAGO — Prosecutors have charged an 18-year-old with shooting an unarmed man without provocation at a West Side gas station on November 4. Judge Deidre Dyer detained Deandre Johnson on a charge of first-degree murder on Monday.
In a proffer prepared by Assistant State’s Attorney Mike Pekara, prosecutors said Johnson’s mom asked a relative to drive him to the GoLo service station, 3731 West Roosevelt, around 10:50 a.m.
The relative parked at a pump while Johnson went inside, arranged for another customer to buy him some cigarillos, and then began walking back to the car, Pekara said.
Outside the store, Johnson passed 20-year-old Rayjay James.
“What the f*** you looking at?” Johnson allegedly asked James, but both men continued walking.
As James opened the gas station door, Johnson pulled a gun from his waist, turned around, assumed a shooting position, and opened fire, according to Pekara’s proffer. James suffered three gunshot wounds and collapsed inside the minimart.
According to Pekara, Johnson ran to his relative’s car, got into the passenger seat, and told her to take him home.
A Chicago police officer in full uniform, positioned at a stationary post directly across from the GoLo, witnessed the shooting. Johnson’s relative turned directly in front of the cop’s squad car on her way to Johnson’s home, Pekara said.
The officer followed the vehicle until it arrived at Johnson’s home, about three blocks from the GoLo. Pekara said Johnson ran into his apartment building and police did not arrest him at that time.
Cops did, however, recover a loaded handgun with a 31-round extended magazine from under the passenger seat of his relative’s car, Pekara said. The gun contained bullets marked with a headstamp reading “Hornady 9mm Luger,” the same headstamp found on three shell casings at the murder scene, according to Pekara.
Surveillance cameras recorded everything that happened at the gas station from multiple angles, Pekara said, adding that Johnson’s face is clearly visible in the footage. The relative who drove Johnson to the gas station, Johnson’s mother, and someone from a school Johnson attended all identified him from surveillance images, Pekara said.
Johnson is currently on juvenile probation for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. He was adjudicated delinquent earlier this year for burglary and resisting a peace officer, according to Pekara.
