Teen killed 4 at Chicago restaurant to avenge dad's murder, police say
CHICAGO — A 19-year-old man charged in the fatal shooting of four people at a Chicago fast food restaurant last week may have been seeking to avenge his father's murder, police said Wednesday.
Police took Maurice Harris into custody Tuesday and charged him in the fatal shooting that authorities believe was a gang-related attack. The four killings were among eight homicides that occurred between late Wednesday and Thursday night in the city’s South Shore neighborhood.
Police allege Harris carried out the attack the day after his father, Jerry Jacobs, was gunned down as he walked in the neighborhood. Jacobs was a documented gang member, and Harris had an extensive rap sheet as a juvenile.
Police Cmdr. Brendan Deenihan said Harris has not confessed to the killings at Nadia Chicken and Fish restaurant, but prosecutors say he was identified by three witnesses as the gunman. He added that the suspected gunman's father, Jacobs, had twice been arrested on murder charges. It was not immediately clear whether those arrests led to convictions.
"I don't have the motive for why Jerry Jacobs was killed," Deenihan said. "But Jerry Jacobs was murdered and (less) than 24 hours later his own son goes and kills four people. So, obviously those two incidents are related."
Harris, who had been arrested 29 times as a juvenile, appeared before a judge Wednesday afternoon and was denied bail.
Police are also trying to determine if the quadruple homicide and the Jacob's murder are tied to the fatal shootings of a 27-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman that occurred hours after Harris allegedly carried out the attack at the restaurant. Several of the victims killed in the spate of violence had ties to either the Gangster Disciples or Black P Stones street gangs.
Investigators have determined that the fatal shooting of a pregnant 26-year-old woman in the same neighborhood Thursday was not related to the other incidents.
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In the quadruple homicide, four male victims were found in or around the restaurant, according to police.
Prosecutors said Harris approached the four victims and began firing as they were standing outside the restaurant. When officers arrived at the scene, they found two of the victims — Emmanuel Stokes, 28, and Edwin Davis, 32 — inside the restaurant. Dillon Jackson, 20, was found dead outside the restaurant. His brother, Raheem Jackson, 19, was found in a nearby yard. The brothers' mother worked in the restaurant where they were shot.
Both brothers were shot in the back as they tried to flee, assistant state's attorney Jamie Santini said.
"Emmanuel Stokes and Edwin Davis ran into (the restaurant,)" Santini said. "Maurice Harris opened the front door to the restaurant. Witnesses saw Maurice Harris point his gun from the doorway of the restaurant and in the direction of Emmanuel Stokes and Edwin Davis."
The nation’s third-largest city has tallied more than 140 murders in 2017, nearly the same number of killings as the city saw at this point last year. Chicago finished 2016 with more than 760 murders, making it the most violent year for the city in about two decades.
Follow Paste BN Chicago correspondent Aamer Madhani on Twitter: @AamerISmad