COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — Slain rapper John Walt and his accused killer got into a fight on a CTA train shortly before Walt was stabbed Wednesday afternoon, prosecutors said.
The fight began about 3:20 p.m. Wednesday when Walt and 23-year-old Kevin Alexander wound up in the same car on a westbound Green Line "L" train, Assistant State's Attorney Jamie Santini said during a bond hearing Friday.
Walt, whose real name is Walter Long, had had a previous altercation with Alexander's cousin and the cousin's friend, prosecutors said.
Alexander approached Walt, and the men soon began throwing punches and wrestling on the Green Line train, Santini said. The entire fight was caught on CTA surveillance footage.
As the train reached the Clinton stop, prosecutors said, Walt got off and began to walk away from the station.
Alexander, meanwhile, took a knife from a witness with whom he'd been traveling and asked the witness to hold Alexander's belongings, Santini said. Alexander followed Walt and stabbed him twice in his chest in the 200 block of North Clinton Street, police said.
Alexander is then accused of chasing a bleeding and mortally wounded Walt for a short while. Police had been called to the scene of a "battery in progress" at the Clinton CTA station, and officers found Walt's body nearby in the 400 block of North Clinton Street, authorities said.
He was pronounced dead on the scene.
Walt is a founding member of the Chicago rap group Pivot Gang, and has rapped under the monikers John Walt and dinnerwithjohn. He's also the cousin of Chicago rappers Saba and Joseph Chillams of Pivot Gang.
Pivot Gang, a group of independent rappers from the West Side, was formed around 2012 and also includes MFn Melo. The group likened itself to a boy band in a 2013 interview with Chicagoist before the release of its first official mixtape "Jimmy."
Alexander, of the 3000 block of West Fullerton Avenue, is charged with first-degree murder. According to police, he was arrested Wednesday evening after being treated for cuts on his chin at the University of Illinois Hospital.
Alexander appeared in court Friday with a white bandage on his chin.
Cook County Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil on Friday set bail at $2 million.
According to Alexander's public defender, he is a graduate of Marshall High School who was recently diagnosed with epilepsy. He works as a supervisor of an Original Penguin store, the attorney said.
