19-year-old man charged in shooting deaths of two teens in South Chicago
Chicago police announced Thursday night that 19-year old Laroy Battle was charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
CHICAGO - An Englewood man is accused of killing two teenagers last weekend after they noted how tall he was while they bought candy at a gas station in South Chicago.
Laroy Battle, 19, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and possession of a controlled
substance, Deputy Chief Brendan Deenihan said at a news conference Thursday.
Jasean Francis, 17, and Charles Riley, 16, were “very good kids from really excellent families,” Deenihan said. They had gone to a gas station Saturday afternoon in the 7900 block of South Luella with a third friend to buy candy when they ran into Battle.
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Though they didn’t know Battle, who is 6-foot-3, they commented on how tall he was, Deenihan said, before they bought their candy and left the store.
That’s when Battle followed them out and fired nine rounds at the teenagers, striking Francis and Riley, Deenihan said. Both boys were pronounced dead at the University of Chicago Medical Center. The third teen was not struck, Chicago police said.
Battle was arrested Wednesday at a motel in west suburban Schiller Park, after community members identified surveillance images of him to police, Deenihan said. Battle allegedly admitted that he was the man seen on camera but never offered a motive in the shooting.
Photos of the person wanted for the alleged murder of two teens June 20, 2020, in South Chicago. | Chicago police
Battle has three previous arrests and one previous conviction for unlawful use of a weapon, for which he was sentenced to probation, Deenihan said.
“They asked him how tall he was, and hoped to be that tall some day,” Deenihan said. “Obviously, we’ll never see the full growth of these poor children.”
Laroy Battle
Riley and Francis were among 12 minors who were shot, five of them fatally, during a bloody Father’s Day weekend that saw 104 total people shot.
Battle is due in bond court Friday.
I sincerly hope he is not bonded out. But you never know in Cook County.
It sure doesn't take too much to set off a feral into a murderous rage does it. Now had the boys responded to him after he said he was 6'3' that they didn't know you can stack poop up that high, I can then perhaps understand the response
ReplyDeleteHe may have intended to shoot them whether they talked to him or not. Hard to understand the ways of the Hood. If they didn't acknowledge him, he may have took it as a sign of disrespect. Who knows? All I know is that a very small percentage of our population is responsible for the majority of violent crime. M-1's between the age of 14 and 44 for instance make up maybe 3 percent of our country's population, yet are responsible for most of the violent crime. If they are locked up crime goes way down. This was proven to be true when crime was taken seriously and offenders were given stiff sentences. I am aware this doesn't fit the current narrative of restorative justice, but if they aren't locked up this is the result. And no, this group doesn't believe that BLM.
ReplyDeleteIf we only had a program Don't look or talk to the angry black man...Joe Biden will fix it when he wins the Senate seat
ReplyDeleteUsually, 16 and 17 year old teen males interact with 19 year old adult males in the following situations: high school or college, church, neighbor, family, saying hi to older brother's or sister's friend or date and in rare cases dating. ರ_ರ
ReplyDeleteBy FOX 32 Chicago
ReplyDeleteJune 25, 2020
ರ_ರ
Of course, 16 and 17 year old teen males could be friends or in a gang with a 19 year adult male too. ಠ_ಠ
Height inquiries would normally be asked by elementary and middle school kids. ಠ﹏ಠ