COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — Three men have been charged in connection with a July 2014 mass shooting that left a 13-year-old boy dead in East Garfield Park.
The shooting happened shortly before 6 p.m. on July 25, 2014, outside a grocery store near California and Lexington avenues, according to prosecutors.
Seven people, ranging in age from 13 to 25, were leaving the store when at least two men in a 2001 Cadillac opened fire — fatally striking 13-year-old Samuel Thomas in his head and wounding the six others, prosecutors said.
Three boys — ages 14, 15 and 15 — were shot in their knees, according to authorities. Another 15-year-old was shot in his right foot. A 20-year-old man was shot in his lower abdomen and right thigh, and a 25-year-old man was struck in his left abdomen.
During a bond hearing Thursday, prosecutors identified three 23-year-old men as the driver, passengers and possible shooters in the attack: Anthony Harris, Anthony Lyons and Joshua Almore.
Police are still looking for a fourth man.
About 2½ hours after the shooting, detectives responded to a call of a car on fire in the 3100 block of West Washington Boulevard, prosecutors said.
There, police found a tan four-door Cadillac with minor fire damage to the back seat floor carpet, according to authorities. There was a plastic bottle of lighter fluid on the ground, and shell casings lined the car.
According to prosecutors, fingerprints lifted from the Cadillac roof and passenger door matched Almore, who's being held in Cook County Jail, where he's awaiting trial for a separate attempted-murder case.
Almore old his cellmate that he and some fellow gang members had spent the afternoon of July 25, 2014, driving around looking for rival gang members to shoot, authorities said. Prosecutors said Almore borrowed the car and stole license plates from another vehicle.
When he, Harris, Lyons and the fourth accomplice spotted the group of young men near California and Lexington, Almore, who'd been sitting in the front passenger seat, got out of the car, reached over the roof and started shooting, prosecutors said.
Almore said someone in the back seat also fired shots, authorities said. Authorities believe Lyons was driving, while Harris and the unidentified accomplice was in the back seat.
Police found Harris' fingerprints on the bottle of lighter fluid, prosecutors said. Like Almore, Harris is currently an inmate at Cook County Jail as he awaits trial for attempted murder. It's not clear if the men are charged in the same case.
Lyons, meanwhile, left fingerprints on a passenger door, prosecutors said. He is currently serving a five-year prison sentence for unlawful use of a weapon and possession of a controlled substance.
Police recovered four 9mm shell casings inside the Cadillac and two 9mm shell casings near the crosswalk at California and Lexington, prosecutors said. State police determined the casings inside the car came from one gun, while the sidewalk casings came from another.
Almore, Harris and Lyons have been charged with first-degree murder and six counts each of attempted first-degree murder.
Cook County Judge Donald Panarese Jr. on Thursday ordered each man held without bail.
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