CHICAGO — A 16-year-old with a violent past has become the second suspect charged in the death of a openly gay Canaryville teen earlier this month, authorities said.
Jerone Carter owned the gun used to kill Banner Academy South High School student Terrance Wright, prosecutors said at a Wednesday morning bond hearing. He was charged with murder and attempted robbery.
Carter and an unnamed 14-year-old boy also charged with murder and attempted robbery confronted Wright on Oct. 19 as he waited for the bus after school at about 3:30 p.m. near the 9900 block of South Yates Avenue, prosecutors said.
Wright, whose family said he had been tormented in school because of his sexuality, refused to back down. Prosecutors said he struggled with the 14-year-old male over the handgun, grabbing the muzzle before the gun fired into his chest.
Wright, who lived in the 5000 block of South Carpenter Street, was pronounced dead at Advocate Christ Hospital about an hour later, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.
The three suspects fled soon after Wright was shot, and witnesses identified them as a known robbery crew in the area, prosecutors said.
Wright's uncle said he thought his case should be charged as a hate crime, DNAinfo.com Chicago reported earlier this month.
Carter's criminal history includes multiple accounts of battery and armed robbery. He pleaded guilty in March to a charge of battery, for which he received two years' probation.
The judge ordered him held in lieu of $2 million bond.
