Articles
Gang revenge led to girl's slaying: prosecutors
BAIL DENIED | 'It soothes me to know they're in jail': mom
September 5, 2008
BY RUMMANA HUSSAIN AND ERICA L. GREEN Staff Reporters
When Luis Pena was hassled by the Latin Kings on Labor Day, Latin Dragons enforcer Antoine Lacy told the fellow Dragon not to "be scared" and encouraged him to shoot, according to authorities.
Pena then returned to the South Chicago alley where the two rival gangs frequently
exchanged bullets and starting firing, fatally striking 10-year-old Nequiel
"Nee-Nee" Fowler as she helped walk her blind 5-year-old sister,
according to Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Maria McCarthy. On Thursday,
Judge Raymond Myles denied both men bail in the slaying.
Raymond Jones, the 18-year-old who allegedly stored the .380 semiautomatic
handgun used in the shooting, and Joseph Chico, 23, accused of driving the
getaway car after the 10-year-old girl died in the gang crossfire, also were
ordered held in lieu of $1 million.
All four were charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder.
On Monday afternoon, Chico had driven Lacy, 25, and 20-year-old Pena to Jones' home, in the 8700 block of Escanaba, to pick up the gun, McCarthy said.
Jones does not belong to the Latin Dragons like the other three. However, McCarthy said, it was Jones who took the gun that Pena had wrapped in his blue T-shirt after he fired in the gangway between South Exchange and Escanaba.
As Chico drove to Lacy's home in Sauk Village, Lacy called Jones and ordered him to wipe down the gun, McCarthy said. Lacy later was told a girl had been shot and a Latin King killed. The gang enforcer spent the next few hours "smoking marijuana and playing games," according to McCarthy.
A witness saw Jones with the gun several days before the shooting and saw Pena give Jones a blue cloth object after the shooting, McCarthy said.
Lacy has four felony convictions, including unlawful use of a weapon and aggravated assault of a police officer. Pena has a pending misdemeanor drug case, and Chico has five misdemeanor convictions.
Jones had been on probation for a 2007 burglary conviction. Myles ordered him held without bail for violating that probation.
Meanwhile, in her mother's West Side home, Linda Williams lay low as her friends and family went to Nee-Nee's visitation.
"It soothes me to know that they're in jail, but it's not going to bring her back," Williams said Thursday.
The grieving mother said that having fainted earlier in the day, she didn't feel up to seeing her daughter in a coffin two days in a row.
She said that the family is struggling to scrounge up money for the girl's $6,000 funeral service.
"She only has one flower," Williams said, her voice cracking. "I just want her funeral to be beautiful. She always wanted to be a princess. I just want to look at her tomorrow and and think, "princess."
Funeral services for Nequiel are set for 12:30 p.m. today at Smith and Thomas
Funeral Home, 5708 W. Madison. Donations can be made at National City Bank
in Nequiel Fowler's name.
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