No Bond For Teen Accused Of Murdering Girl
CHICAGO (STMW) - A 16-year-old boy was ordered held on $1 million bond Wednesday after being charged with the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old girl Saturday on an Englewood porch.
Judge Daniel Sullivan ordered 16-year-old Antuan Joiner held on $1 million, Cook County State's Attorney's office spokesman Andy Conklin said. He was charged as an adult Tuesday with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder, police said.
Joiner is accused of fatally shooting 16-year-old Shakaki Asphy in the 2000 block of West 70th Place about 7 p.m. Saturday. Asphy was on the porch with friends when someone in a gray hooded sweatshirt ran through a gangway and opened fire, killing her and wounding Leon Cunningham, 18.
Cunningham was paralyzed a few years ago when he was shot while sitting on the porch of a nearby home. He was in his wheelchair on the sidewalk when he was wounded Saturday, his mother told the Sun-Times.
"It's crazy," said Della Cunningham. "An innocent girl got shot and my son got shot again — for no reason."
But the area's litany of violence doesn't end there.
It was on the same block that 10-year-old Siretha White was shot to death on a porch while she celebrated her surprise birthday party in 2006. And a block away, two men were found shot to death in a car in 2010.
Neighbors say gunfire is part of the background noise near South Damen Avenue and West 71st Street.
Albert Chambers, 69, lives next door to the boarded-up home where Asphy was killed. He heard the shots and ran outside to see her lying on the porch in a pool of blood. He said a stray bullet struck the light fixture on his front porch, which was hanging sideways Sunday.
Police said they believe the shooting may have stemmed from a conflict among rival factions of the Gangster Disciples street gang.
But people on the block believe the latest shootings were a case of mistaken identity. Earlier in the day, there was gunfire at a nearby gas station at Damen and 71st, and the shooter may have been seeking revenge, one resident said.
Joiner will be back in court on July 9.
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