CHICAGO — A 20-year-old associate of rapper Chief Keef and other South Side musicians has been found guilty in the murder of a 14-year-old boy, according to prosecutors.
Ahbir Sardin was convicted of first-degree murder of Venzel Richardson on Thursday at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse, the Cook County State's Attorney's office said in a statement.
On Feb. 12, 2014, Richardson was leaving a convenience store with friends in the 6100 block of South Vernon Avenue when a white van pulled up, according to prosecutors. A shooter, later identified as Sardin by witnesses, opened the driver's side door and started firing, officials said.
Venzel was struck four times, including once in the back of his head, prosecutors said. He managed to run away to a nearby gangway, where he died of his injuries.
Sardin was arrested and charged with the boy's murder in April 2014. He was held on $1 million bail.
Sardin goes by the name "D.Rose," sources said, and he appears in songs and videos by Chief Keef, RondoNumbaNine and Cdai. Sardin is a member of the Black Disciples street gang, according to sources. And the number "600" is tattooed on Sardin's wrist, a police report notes. That tattoo sometimes refers to the Black Disciples.
Sardin was previously falsely tied to the high-profile 2012 slaying of Chicago rapper Lil JoJo, whose real name was Joseph Coleman.
He faces 45 years to life in prison and will be sentenced on Oct. 26, according to the the state's attorney's office.
Venzel's family said the 14-year-old boy was a freshman at Dunbar Vocational Career Academy, and the night he was killed he had been heading to a corner store to buy chips and candy.
"I never wanted to be like the mothers on TV that are crying because their babies got shot," Venzel's mom, Laveta Richardson, said after the shooting. "And now I'm a victim. They shot my baby in the head."
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