COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A high school sophomore is facing first-degree murder charges in the South Shore shooting that left two teens dead and a third wounded last week.
Prosecutors say Anthony Murphy, 16, fired the fatal shots that killed best friends Donta Parker, 16, and Sakinah Reed, 17, as the pair walked home from school on Jan. 5.
While Murphy admitted being there, he told authorities he was just the driver in the drive-by shooting, Assistant State's Attorney Brian Whang said during a bond hearing Wednesday.
But a 16-year-old boy who was shot in his leg during the drive-by identified Murphy as the shooter, Whang said. And a witness from a nearby BP gas station spotted Murphy sitting in the backseat of a green Ford Explorer — which police later determined to have been stolen — minutes before the shooting.
Murphy is currently on juvenile parole for unlawful use of a weapon.
"There is no question in my mind [Murphy] is a danger to the community and himself," Cook County Judge James Brown said Wednesday as he ordered Murphy held without bail.
The shooting happened about 3:30 p.m. on Jan. 5 in the 7600 block of South Dorchester Avenue, authorities said.
Prosecutors believe Murphy sat behind the driver's seat of the Ford Explorer, while a "juvenile co-offender" manned the wheel. As the SUV pulled up alongside the teenage victims, Murphy shouted gang slogans and opened fire, Whang said.
Donta was shot in his torso, and Sakinah was struck twice in her back and once in her leg, prosecutors said. Both teens died at Advocate Christ Medical Center.
The third victim, a 16-year-old boy, was shot in leg and finger, and survived the attack, Whang said.
Police recovered six .380 caliber shell casings and two fired bullets on the scene, according to prosecutors. Surveillance footage shows the green Ford Explorer driving toward the victims on Dorchester.
Officers later saw the Ford Explorer that matched a description of the one seen near the scene, Deputy Chief Eugene Roy said at a news conference Wednesday. The officers ran the car's license plates, determined it had been stolen, and then persued the vehicle.
Murphy and the driver then led police in a car chase before leaving the car and fleeing on foot, Roy said. Police took Murphy into custory and also arrested the driver for driving a stolen vehicle. Roy said police were investigating the driver's involvement in the murder.
Police seized the SUV on Jan. 6 and later found a .380 caliber shell casing on the windshield. It was a match to the casings found on the scene, Whang said. The back of the driver's seat also tested positive for gunshot residue.
Murphy is currently on juvenile parole for a 2015 gun case, prosecutors said.
He was also found delinquent in two 2013 juvenile cases: a stolen car case and an aggravated battery.
Contributing: Evan F. Moore
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