COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — Witnesses helped police catch a murder suspect this week after they noticed the man circling a Burnside block and called 911 with his license plate number, prosecutors said Friday.
Stephen Crump, 27, had been driving around the 9200 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue before he parked and quickly left about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Assistant State's Attorney Molly Donnelly said during a bond hearing Friday.
Crump returned a short while later and parked in a vacant next to a barber shop, prosecutors said.
His behavior "caused concern" for witnesses in the area, according to Donnelly, so they called 911.
Moments later, 28-year-old Marsolino White walked out of the barber shop and headed north on Cottage Grove, prosecutors said. Crump, who was wearing a red hoodie and carrying a gun, got out of the car and ran after White, according to witnesses.
Just as the pair passed a building — moving beyond the witnesses' lines of sight — a single gun shot rang out, Donnelly said.
Crump ran back to the car and sped away, but the witnesses were still on the phone with 911 and able to give the operator a full license plate number, prosecutors said.
White, who had been shot once in the back of his head, was rushed to Advocate Christ Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, according to authorities.
Police said the license plate number matched a rental car, which had been rented out to Crump.
When police arrived at his apartment in the 300 block of East 70th Place later that evening, the car was parked outside, Donnelly said.
Inside the apartment, prosecutors said, officers found four guns: a .30 caliber rifle with an 18-inch barrel, loaded with 30 live rounds; a .45 caliber semiautomatic with live rounds in the magazine and chamber; a double-action .22 caliber long revolver with nine live rounds; and a 9 mm semiautomatic gun with several live rounds.
That gun was hidden in the oven, Donnelly said, and its cartridges matched the single shell casing police recovered at the scene.
Police are still analyzing ballistics and fingerprints, she added.
Crump was charged with first-degree murder after he was identified by three witnesses.
Cook County Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil on Friday ordered Crump held without bail. She called Crump a danger to himself and society, noting that he was allegedly "lying in wait outside the barbershop."
Crump was previously convicted in 2011 of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. He has two prior misdemeanor convictions: theft and possession of marijuana.
His defense attorney said Crump has worked for a gas company for five years and has one child.
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