A Chicago man lied about the theft of a handgun that was later used by a 14-year-old girl to kill a another teen following a dispute over a boy, police said.
Robert James, 34, of the 1300 block of East Hyde Park Boulevard, was the legal owner of the .38-caliber revolver used to shoot and kill 14-year-old Endia Martin Monday afternoon. In a statement released Thursday morning, police said James illegally sold the weapon to someone else in November of last year, then filed a false police report indicating it was stolen from his car earlier this month.
Police did not identify the buyer of the weapon. But 25-year-old Donnell Flora somehow managed to get a hold of it, then gave it to his 14-year-old niece, prosecutors said. That teen, in turn, then used it to shoot Martin on the 900 block of West Garfield Boulevard on Monday afternoon, they said.
Flora, himself a victim of gun violence, was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder and aggravated battery/discharge of a firearm. His niece, who has not been publicly named due to her age, faces four counts of first-degree murder.
James was charged with falsely reporting the gun stolen and then illegally selling it to another person. He was ordered held on $100,000 bail during a Thursday court appearance.
Another person, Vandetta Redwood, 32, of the 6500 block of South Green Street, was charged with mob action and obstruction of justice for failing to call police and for denying she was at the scene of Monday's shooting, police said.
She was ordered held on $25,000 bail.
