COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — An Austin man has been charged with murdering 17-year-old Demond Avant in 2014.
The teen was walking a female friend home after dinner when he was gunned down in the 600 block of North Mayfield Avenue about 9:30 p.m. Dec. 3, 2014, according to Assistant State's Attorney Elena Gottreich, who spoke during a bond hearing Wednesday.
Two men — Paris Jones and Kenyon Jones — were previously charged in the homicide.
A third suspect, 23-year-old Tyren Reese, was arrested this week and charged with first-degree murder. Prosecutors believe Reese was one of the gunmen the evening Avant was killed.
According to authorities, Reese, Paris Jones, Kenyon Jones and several others were inside a burgundy SUV that stopped near Avant shortly before the shooting.
Reese and another man got out of the vehicle, pulled guns and shot at Avant before getting back in the car and speeding off, Gottreich said. Avant was pronounced dead at 10:10 p.m. at a nearby hospital, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.
Police found multiple 9mm shell casings on the scene. Authorities later linked Reese's DNA to a 9mm handgun found inside the burgundy SUV, prosecutors said.
According to Gottreich, Reese confessed to police in a videotaped statement that he shot Avant and stashed the gun in December 2014.
Cook County Judge Donald Panarese Jr. on Wednesday ordered Reese held in lieu of $1 million bail.
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