COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — The father of slain 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee was charged with attempted murder Monday for a shooting that left three people wounded in what prosecutors called "an ongoing gang war."
Pierre Stokes, 25, allegedly said, "I'm going to kill you, b----," before opening fire in an Auburn Gresham parking lot on March 8 — shooting three people, according to prosecutors.
One of the victims is the girlfriend of Corey Morgan, who was previously charged in Tyshawn's murder, Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez confirmed Monday. The other two victims are the girlfriend's nephews.
Stokes was initially charged with three counts of aggravated battery in the shooting, which happened a half mile from where Tyshawn was lured into an alley on Nov. 2 and shot execution-style in what police have called a "hateful act of treachery."
Charges were upgraded Monday to attempted murder, and Stokes was ordered held without bail.
If convicted, Stokes could face natural life in prison.
The shooting happened about 5:30 p.m. March 8 in the 7900 block of South Ashland Avenue, Assistant State's Attorney George Canellis said during a bond hearing Monday.
The three victims — a 29-year-old woman and two men, ages 30 and 31 — were heading to a Family Dollar at 80th and Ashland to buy laundry detergent when they noticed a commotion at the nearby Shell gas station, prosecutors said.
The victims believed they saw a cousin getting jumped, Canellis said, and ran toward the gas station. During an ensuing fight, Stokes allegedly pulled out a gun, pointed it at the female victim and said, "I'm going to kill you, b----," Canellis said.
Stokes fired five or six shots as the victims took off running, according to prosecutors. The woman was grazed in her face, while the 30-year-old man was shot in his shoulder and the 31-year-old man was struck in his left forearm and left upper thigh, authorities said.
Police arrested Stokes on Friday night, and he allegedly admitted to being at the gas station and running away with a gun following the March 8 altercation, Canellis said. Stokes never confessed to the shooting.
Prosecutor George Canellis says security camera did not capture actual shooting - just folks running @DNAinfoCHI pic.twitter.com/otbxzADtPP
— Erica Demarest (@ericademarest) March 14, 2016
Surveillance footage captured Stokes, who lives nearby in the 7900 block of South Wood Street, running away from the gas station after the shooting, prosecutors said. Four witnesses identified Stokes as the shooter.
The Nov. 2 murder of Stokes' son Tyshawn Lee attracted national headlines and resulted in charges against Dwright Boone-Doty, 22, and Corey Morgan, 27, while police are still searching for a third accomplice, Kevin Edwards. Prosecutors said Boone-Doty was the gunman while Morgan and Edwards helped plan the "heinous" murder.
RELATED: Tyshawn Lee's Alleged Killer Laughed About Murder, Wanted To Kill More Kids: Police
Early on in the investigation, police said Stokes was not helpful in finding Tyshawn's killer. Police long suspected the murder was part of an ongoing gang war that involved Stokes.
In November, Stokes told DNAinfo Chicago that police harassed him after his son's death: "They trying to see if I'll get mad, if I'm gonna do something. They telling me they want to lock me up. ... I don't want revenge. I want justice."
Stokes was previously convicted in 2011 of armed robbery and sentenced to six years in prison, court records show. He has a separate pending case for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. Bond in that case was set at $90,000, and Stokes was free on bond when the March 8 shooting occurred.
Alvarez on Monday said Stokes "should not have been out to do these shootings."
In a statement, Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said, "This represents the challenge that police grapple with. We are aggressively working to hold gun offenders and gang members accountable. Mr. Stokes who was involved in a gang lifestyle, ultimately suffered an unspeakable loss with the calculated execution of his son.
"Despite this, he continued to engage in the same gang activity that started this initial cycle of violence," Guglielmi said. "CPD will continue our efforts to disrupt gang activity in Chicago and at the same time, work with our community partners through our gang call-ins to try and urge gang members to see the casualties of that lifestyle and offer alternatives like job placement, training and education options."
Interim Police Supt. John Escalante has implemented biweekly gang call-ins, he added, to try to reach more than 1,500 gang members.
Canellis said the violence stemmed from "an ongoing gang war" between Morgan's gang, the BBG (Bang Bang Gang)/Terror Dome faction of the Black P Stones and the Killaward faction of the Gangster Disciples.
The feud came to a boil after an Oct. 13 shooting in which Morgan's brother, Tracey Morgan was killed and his mother was wounded. Morgan was so enraged he threatened to shoot "grandmas, mamas, kids and all" in retaliation, according to prosecutors.
Boone-Doty was also charged last week in the Oct. 18 murder of 19-year-old Brianna Jenkins — a case in which Boone-Doty was gunning for rival gang members and fatally shot Jenkins to "shut her up," prosecutors allege.
Read what prosecutors said in court Monday:
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