Rasheed Martin and his friends had allegedly been in shoot-outs with their rivals for several months before a bullet fired in their ongoing dispute struck and killed 7-year-old Amari Brown over the Fourth of July weekend, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
The groups shot at each other on April 17 and May 23.
Just hours before Amari was gunned down on a Humboldt Park sidewalk, the enemies fired at each other near Harding and Thomas, Cook County prosecutors said.
Amari was struck in the chest as he stood on the sidewalk shortly before midnight later that day after watching fireworks in the 1100 block of North Harding. His father, Antonio Brown, was the intended target, Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy has said.
Martin, who was extradited to Chicago from Wisconsin, was ordered held without bond Wednesday for allegedly killing Amari, injuring a woman and firing toward another man. A second offender is still at large, authorities said.
Witnesses saw 20-year-old Martin and his accomplice shoot at people on the sidewalk, Assistant State’s Attorney Jennifer Cooper said.
A 27-year-old woman was also hit in the chest but survived. Martin also shot toward a man, who is in his 20s, Cooper said. That man, who escaped injury, was not Amari’s father, according to a police report.
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Martin, his cohort and two of his other friends ran away from the scene after the shooting. But the witnesses identified Martin, of the 900 block of North Monticello, as one the shooters, Cooper said.
Martin was arrested at the Bartley Manor Complex at 3900 Tower Ave. in Superior, Wis., on July 22, according to a statement from the Douglas County sheriff’s office.
Superior is located just over the state line from Duluth, Minn., about 460 miles from Chicago.
Martin, who wore a white T-shirt and shorts in court Wednesday, allegedly admitted his role in the shootings in a videotaped statement to Chicago Police. He also implicated the co-offender, Cooper said.
