Four reputed gang members have been charged in the fatal shooting of an innocent 9-year-old boy, apparently gunned down because they thought he was shouting a warning to two rival gang members, police said."This didn't have to happen," Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said at a news conference Friday afternoon to announce charges in last month's slaying of Antonio Smith, the youngest victim killed in gun violence in Chicago this year.
McCarthy said the gun used to kill Antonio had been used in other shootings. "Chicago's murder problem is a gun problem," he said. "It's too easy to get a firearm."
Nine-year-old shooting victim Antonio Smith is laid to rest. (Abel Uribe/Chicago Tribune)
Charged with first-degree murder are the suspected gunman, Derrick Allmon, 19, of the 7400 block of South Shore Drive; Jabari Williams, 22, of the 1900 block of North Sycamore Street in Hanover Park; Paris Denard, 19, of the 7300 block of South Dorchester Avenue; and Michael Baker, 19, of the 8100 block of South Wentworth Avenue.
Allmon had just gotten out of jail in August after serving 18 months of a 3 1/2-year sentence on a weapons charge, according to McCarthy.
"He should not have been on the street to commit this murder," McCarthy said. "The real kicker to this entire case is that it didn’t have to happen."
Allmon and the others -- all members of the Sircon City faction of the Gangster Disciples -- were riding in two cars around 4 p.m. on Aug. 20, looking to shoot members of a rival gang known as Pocket Town, McCarthy said.
They spotted two men they believed were rivals in the 1200 block of East 71st Street, and Allmon got out, walked up to the other car and talked to Williams, according to the superintendent. Williams handed Allmon a handgun and told him to shoot the two.
“As Allmon approached his intended targets on foot, he came across Antonio Smith in the rear yard of a residence,” McCarthy said. “Believing that Antonio Smith was yelling a warning to his intended victims, Allmon shot Antonio Smith multiple times, wounding him fatally.”
At least two of the bullets struck the boy in the back, he said. Antonio's body was found on a concrete slab just a few feet from railroad tracks that have long served as the dividing line between the two rival gangs in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood.
Law enforcement sources say a dispute between Pocket Town and Sircon City recently flared up in the neighborhood.
Police have said Antonio was not affiliated with gangs, but lived in an area controlled by Pocket Town. He was walking along East 71st Street after running out of his house, angry that he couldn't have some cake, according to his family.
An apparent break in the case came last week when Williams was picked up for unlawful weapon charges.
Williams had been spotted with a gun but dropped it as he ran from police on Sept. 16, McCarthy said. Officers had prior contacts with Williams and tracked him down on Wednesday, he said.
As police were questioning him, Williams "made self-incriminating statements in regards to his involvement in the shooting death of Antonio Smith," his arrest report states.
McCarthy said information from the community also helped break the case.
“The community refused to stay silent and provided us with vital information that culminated in the arrest of these three offenders,” McCarthy said. “Initially we got a couple of nicknames (then) the officers developed some more information and detectives subsequently verified it.”
Police say Allmon, the suspected gunman, went by the nickname "Little Billy" and has the word "Blessed" tattooed across his chest, according to a police report.
McCarthy stressed that Antonio and family have no affiliation with gangs.
Hundreds of mourners turned out at his funeral last month, remembering Antonio as an energetic and smart boy who loved to smile, entertain and dance to Michael Jackson songs.
Antonio, who was lovingly called Fat Baby and Hamburger, loved to make other people laugh, his family members said. One of his favorite songs was "Still Have Joy" by singer Tye Tribbett.
The fourth-grader was on the honor roll at Hinton Elementary School and was so smart he could "sell water to a whale," according to an obituary written by Antonio's family and distributed at the funeral, held at the church where he was baptized and sang in choir.
His framed Washington Park peewee football No. 84 jersey stood to the left of his small, white casket.
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