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Prosecutors: Teen beaten to death was 'innocent bystander'
Sep 28, 2009 (Chicago Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Three teenagers have been charged with beating 16-year-old Derrion Albert to death as he walked home from Fenger High School last Thursday.
Prosecutors said Albert was an "innocent bystander" who got into the middle of a fight related to a shooting outside Fenger earlier that day.
Two groups of teens -- one from Altgeld Gardens, the other from another neighborhood -- have been feuding, prosecutors said.
Charged with first-degree murder are Silvanus Shannon, 19, Eugene Riley, 18, and Eric Carson, 16, according to the Cook County state's attorney's office. All were charged as adults and all were ordered held without bond today.
The charges were announced after Chicago police lined up in a show of force outside Fenger this morning. Students trickled into the school at staggered intervals through the morning. Most arrived on foot wearing their standard uniform of khaki pants and black shirts.
Police patrolled the area in squad cars and staged a visible presence at the school's entrance.
"We want to provide reassurance to the public that there's a police presence and they can feel safe in the neighborhood and kids can feel safe at school," said Morgan Park District Commander Michael Kuemmeth.
Today was the first day Fenger has been open since the fatal melee that swept up Albert, an honor roll student. All Chicago public schools were closed Friday for a staff day.
A march and vigil for Albert outside Fenger, organized by his family will be held at 1 p.m. Originally, the vigil had been planned for Sunday, but Albert's family agreed to postpone it at the request of the Chicago Public Schools, said Albert's grandfather Joseph Walker.
Meanwhile, four people were being questioned in connection with the attack, as an amateur video helped police identify several participants in the melee outside the Agape Community Center, 342 W. 111th St. That video was provided to Fox affiliate WFLD-Ch. 32., which turned it over to detectives Friday night. Fox said it paid its typical freelance fee of about $300 for exclusive rights to the video.
Before the announcement of charges, Chicago Police spokesman Roderick Drew said investigators have identified several people from the video, and were questioning four of them.
In a press conference at Police Headquarters regarding security at Fenger, 11220 S. Wallace St., Calumet Area Detective Division Commander Eddie Welch said the video has helped the investigation.
When asked if police are encouraging people to watch the video to see if they can identify anyone in it, Drew said, "We would rather have [the] people who were involved in it, innocent or not, to call police."
The video shows dozens of people punching, kicking and swinging planks in a melee in a lot next to the community center and the adjacent street. At one point, four or five males -- including one wielding a 2x4 -- can be seen beating and stomping another person, believed to be Albert, who had fallen to the ground.
As the attackers flee, the person with the camera and several others approached Albert and carried him into a nearby building.
"Derrion, get up!" a female voice pleads.
Officials and witnesses say the melee was a culmination of a simmering rivalry between two groups of Fenger students, one that lived near the school and the other from the Altgeld Gardens housing development. Neighbors said the feud has been building since August, spilling across Roseland streets and, some say, into Fenger.
Albert's family was squeamish about watching the video and not all of them were able to watch it in its entirety. But they said they don't have a problem with the public watching the graphic video as long as it helps identify who beat Derrion to death.
"It hurt to watch," said LaTonia Williams, the teen's aunt. "It's one thing to hear about it and come up with your own theory of what happened. To see it is another thing. It gave us a real clear picture of what happened. That video was crucial."
By Kristen Mack, Andrew L. Wang and Kristen Schorsch
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