Man Who 'Wanted To Be Popular' Pleads Guilty To Murder
CHICAGO (STMW) -- A Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood man who agreed to a small part in a 2008 murder plot pleaded guilty Tuesday after a 15-year-old boy was mistakenly killed by his accomplice.
Willie Thompson, 23, pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, Cook County State's Attorney's office spokesman Andy Conklin said.
Thompson, of the 100 block of West 66th Street, was charged for his role in the July 30, 2008, murder of 15-year-old Allan Komperda.
Prosecutors said Thompson agreed to ring the doorbell of a home in the 100 block of West 66th Street in the middle of the night to force someone to open the door so his partner could go inside and kill several residents.
Thompson rang the bell and Komperda answered, but the shooter didn't wait. He immediately opened fired, killing the Chicago Vocational High student, prosecutors said.
Police said Komperda was not the intended target, but the gunman might have been targeting a family member.
The shooter allegedly approached Thompson for help and he agreed because "he wanted to be popular and have status in the neighborhood and with the shooter," according to court records.
Thompson had no criminal background.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2012. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
